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Technology Stocks : Web Desktops, Web Applications, Thin Client -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (7)	12/2/1999 2:14:00 PM
From: Jay Lowe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 68

>> where would the user data files reside? Data independence (read point-of-access independence) is a primary advantage claimed by web-based apps. Your data (documents, spreadsheets, email, etc) lives on the web server and not on your local PC. Your information is completely private to you subject to the technology ... currently, the links to existing desktop services are not SSL-secure or otherwise encrypted as far as I can see ... and their service policies disclaim any responsibility. More specifically, you cannot view my web-desktop documents except perhaps by capturing the data stream or impersonating me. This whole area ... data QoS ... will evolve and be an area of competition. To function as a real Office replacement, the web apps must effectively guarantee data security and accessibility. Currently they do not and are challenged to do so in the open-net model. That's why I see @Home, with it's infrastructure control, as having a unique value to add to this picture ... @Home can guarantee bandwidth (sort of) and move the desktop servers out toward the customers. Ah ... off-line use ... another differentiating factor of these services will be how good they are at allowing you to work offline ... without a live connection. This is a standard caching problem and all the standard responses apply. So ... this application model has a number of intrinsic challenges which all the players share in common. It will be interesting to track their evolution, eh?