.Net? .Not! Microsoft Abandons Future To Apple July 10th, 2000 Two weeks ago, Microsoft announced their future, or at least what the company currently claims will be its future. Microsoft unveiled a platform they are calling .Net (pronounced Dot Net). In it's most basic form, .Net is server based computing through the Internet. Commonly called Thin Client, this isn't a particularly novel idea as similar concepts have been tossed around by computing powerhouses like Oracle and Sun. However, unlike those companies' plans that are aimed more at corporate markets, Microsoft's plans include all of computingdom. The .What in .Net. The idea is that users will no longer be burdened by having to maintain their own computers. Instead, they will buy, or better yet lease, a Net Appliance of some sort that includes little more than a browser. That browser is capable not only of hitting the Internet as we know it today, it will also be capable of tapping into word processing programs, accounting programs, spreadsheets, MineSweeper, and any other type of application you may need. You will effectively be doing all of your computing through this browser which becomes a sort of shell for using all those applications. These applications will all reside on servers that are owned and serviced by Microsoft, as well as the applications themselves. And the hard drives, the hard drives where your data will be stored, will also be owned by Microsoft. Your data? Oh yeah, sure, you'll own that. But the rest will be rented from Microsoft. No more messy software updates, no more blue screen of death, no more crashes... Well, surely their servers won't crash will they? They'll all be running some form of Windows, so they'll probably be as tight as the rest of their OS products. Pardon me while I wipe the bitter taste of irony from my lips. The doctors have warned me that I may overdose on this stuff. Other Net Computing concepts, including Apple's own NetBoot feature, revolve around localized servers that a company owns and operates. This is frankly ideal for a corporate environment. Essentially, take my description of .Net and make it a localized version specific to a company. IT costs alone would be slashed as updating an entire network would be as simple as updating one or more servers. Fewer problems would occur as well because users wouldn't have the ability to customize, or break, their machines. For many companies, I personally think this is a great idea. With Mac OS X and hard drive-less iMacs, we can hope that Apple will be right in the middle of that phase in corporate computing. Microsoft's .Net on the other hand is nothing short of a nightmare. As I usually do when I rant about Microsoft, I will offer a short interlude where I sing the praises of Microsoft's Mac Business Unit. This is the group that makes Mac versions of the company's products and they kick butt. I am a happy user of IE 5 and Office 98. If it weren't for the fact that I have a year of e-mail invested in Eudora Pro, I would probably be using Outlook Express as well. Of course, if Apple hadn't killed OpenDoc, I would still be using Cyberdog, but that's another story. LONG LIVE CYBERDOG! Back to my rant. .Net is a nightmare. I do not want my data stored and controlled by Microsoft, or any other company. I do not want to trust them with my data's privacy or security. I certainly never want my data to be held hostage by whether or not I paid my bill to Microsoft, or some other service provider, on time. Accidents happen and payments get misplaced. To be fair, perhaps Microsoft has all of this worked out so that all of my interests are protected. I don't believe that for a second, but even if it were so, you know what they say about plans, mice, and men. I think Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have confused what is best for Microsoft for what is best for their customers. .Net could be set up in such a way to make it great for some corporations, but it will never be appropriate for the vast majority of consumers, at least not this one. While it would theoretically make some minor aspects of computing more convenient for some, it's only real effect is to insure Microsoft's revenue stream. It will also serve to put most other application developers out of business as Microsoft will have direct control over what goes out through .Net. Hooray for Microsoft but woe be to the consumer. My fanciful rant notwithstanding, we must have change in the computer industry. Our current desktop paradigm has grown long in the tooth and increasingly fails the demands of modern life. As computers and the Internet become more and more important to our daily lives, we need to be able to access our data anywhere we are. Cell phones, PDAs, and digital pagers have sought to bridge the gap, but ultimately they fail. Those few devices that have attempted to tie things together don't quite have it right. They are certainly a boon compared to what we had before the Newton, but when it comes down to it, I don't really want to try to access a Web site on a cell phone screen. Thanks anyway. The answers and solutions to this don't seem to be all that close. Then again, the answers may be closer than we think. This is where Apple comes in. I have mentioned this briefly in previous columns, but I want to tie it all together in a slightly new way. Apple, and more importantly Steve Jobs, has built their business on empowering the individual to be more productive and creative. This has been a mantra for Steve Jobs for more than two decades. Central control over my data does not empower, or even encourage, me to be productive or creative. In fact, .Net is the antithesis to both of those concepts. Mr. Jobs has gone on record as saying how much he digs being able to tap into his desktop no matter where he went in his house/office. While this is a feature that has been built into Unix for decades, NeXT took it to a new level. He cited this as a big part of why he thought the NeXT OS, which was built on top of a Unix kernel, was superior to the Mac OS, which he called outdated. He said this in an interview in 1997 and really hasn't mentioned it much since. Save for the NetBoot feature in Mac OS 9/Mac OS X, we have seen little of this from Apple either. However, I do not think that it has left Mr. Jobs' mind and I would like to think that the Brain Trust at Apple been hard at work on it now for years. Let's take this to the NeXT Step (pun intended). What is better than having your data and programs sitting on a Microsoft server? How about a device, Net Appliance if you will, that allows you to have access to your own desktop anywhere you go. You have your workstation at your home or office that includes all your applications and data, as well as a Net Appliance that allows you to tap into those apps and data from anywhere through either a wireless or wired connection. Give that Net Appliance the ability to act as a stand-alone organizer or a digital communications device when necessary and you have something with amazing value. This is the direction that I hope computing goes, and I hope it is Apple that takes us there. I think they are the only company that can. The technology to make this possible gets closer and closer every day. For instance, LEP screens could make it possible to unroll your screen, do your business, and then roll it back up. Currently, these screens cost 60% less than LCDs to produce, though there are only a couple of companies working on the technology. Throw in some large companies, some heavy funding, and a good deal of consumer excitement and you get a screen that rolls up to the size of ball point pen and connects to your Net Appliance through a reusable strip that bears a close resemblance to Scotch tape. Having centralized control over your data, indeed, having a home that goes with you anywhere you go adds real value. Such a concept empowers the individual in a way that Microsoft could never really understand. Indeed, it would probably frighten them because they couldn't control it. This paradigm for computing is insanely great. .Net is just insane. Your comments are welcomed.