Changing The Definition Of Office SW
You
no doubt have noticed that there is a lot more going on in the
office sector recently. That’s
where I started out and I hadn’t needed to pay nearly as much
attention to it in recent years – until about 18 to 24 months ago,
when things really started changing.
It’s
hard to say exactly what’s different, but here are a few things to
think about:
(1)
We are seeing
lots of new products in an area where new products had not happened
in a very long time.
(2) These
products are different than the products that preceded them.
In the past, new products in the office sector were of the
“meet and surpass” variety.
Any new product had to match the feature set of existing
market leaders and then offer some new appealing feature.
These new products often simply look at what customers need
and build from a different point of view.
That point of view often focuses on enabling users to do it
themselves. This means
the products are often lighter weight, focused on particular tasks,
rather than on doing everything.
They need to be very easy to use, but also easy to implement.
This
is very exciting. No
one can tell exactly where it might lead, but, of course, I’m
going to try. Not here, today, but over time.
Some of that will be in this newsletter. More of it will be in a white paper (well, maybe it will look
more like a book) that I’m working on, which I’m calling
“Reinventing the Office.” More
on that very soon. If
you’re an office re-inventor, we should talk.
In
the meantime, here are some interesting office developments.
Some of them fit right into this new notion of looking at the
office from a different point of view.
Some of them seem more like continuations of existing product
streams. All of them
are interesting.
IBM/Lotus
and The Role-Based Office
IBM
had a busy week, announcing a number of office-related developments.
First,
some definitional and infrastructional (is that a word?) nuts and
bolt
- IBM’s
newest version of its portal software, WebSphere Portal 5.1, is now available.
That’s
important because almost all of IBM’s new office offerings are now
tied to the portal. One
of IBM’s new thoughts is that aggregating all of the functionality
and information a user needs and delivering it from one place makes
it easier for both the users and the organization.
It’s a step away from the PC-centric office (although
there’s nothing that keeps the device on an individual worker’s
desk from being a PC, if that’s the best device for that worker).
- New WebSphere
Portal features include workflow, business process, virtual portals,
and the integration of Workplace Web Content Management.
- IBM has
announced a new version of its Workplace software, Workplace 2.5.
(Note that it’s called IBM Workplace now, dropping the
Lotus/IBM designation. But
don’t worry about Lotus and Notes.
IBM also offered a Notes roadmap, showing products going out
far into the future, eventually merging with Workplace.)
- There’s an
Express (SMB) version of Workplace, Workplace Services Express 2.0,
featuring team collaboration (with teamwork areas), document
management, and portal services.
The product can run on a single server and IBM says it’s so
simple it can be up and running in just a few hours.
- Workplace has
been enhanced with role-based solutions, frameworks that embody
IBM’s expertise in various horizontal applications and vertical
markets. There are 17
to start with, including such horizontal applications as
procurement, finance and administration, customer service, and human
resources, and vertical applications ranging from sales management
and branch banking to healthcare, insurance, and field management.
- IBM is now
offering an on-demand, hosted Web Conferencing service, based on its
existing web conferencing product.
It can be accessed on an ad hoc, per event basis, or annual
subscription-based pricing.
IBM
makes a strong case for network-centric computing versus PC-centric
computing, particularly for the benefits of being able to access
information from anywhere, its low cost profile and fast deployment.
We expect this to be particularly successful for customers
with large numbers of LOB (Line of Business) workers, who have
little or no need to create new documents or spreadsheets but lots
of need to access information, participate in workflows, and fill in
forms.
What
and When Is Next From Microsoft On Office?
Microsoft
isn’t talking much about what the next version of Office will look
like. It’s expected
to arrive, with Longhorn, the next version of the Windows operating
system, in late 2006. The
next version of Microsoft Office is not, however, tied to Longhorn.
It will also run on older versions of the operating system,
including Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and possibly Windows
Server 2000.
But
Microsoft’s discreet stance hasn’t prevented rumors from
starting. We aren’t
in favor of gossip, but a few attempts to read the crystal ball,
might be in order.
One
object of speculation ties directly to the new direction IBM has
been taking, noting that Microsoft has been talking not about the
Office Suite (its desktop productivity applications), but rather
about the Office System, which includes its connections to various
Microsoft server products, including Exchange, SharePoint, InfoPath,
Content Management, Live Communication, and Project Management.
So
there is some speculation that this might point to more server
function (I’d say that’s likely) or even a server-based desktop
(I’d think that’s much less likely, given Microsoft’s strong
support for the PC-centric desktop).
Evermore Wins Five Of Five
Evermore
Integrated Office, the Chinese Office Suite, has won five of five
contracts from China’s Ministry of Education after it achieved the
highest score in an Office Suite evaluation of Open Source-based
products by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
Evermore
CEO Gus Tsao believes that the sweep of the MOST test and
Evermmore’s new scientific editor for math, physics and chemistry
were important reasons for the win.
The Science Editor comes with a navigation pane to find and
select from about 2,000 math, physics and chemistry symbols and
diagrams. All symbols are dynamic, permitting users to edit and
adjust size, position and styles for sub- and superscript formulas
and equations. The Science Editor gives users the power to depict
experiments, prepare lesson plans, exam materials and teaching
guides, and display and edit complex formulae in worksheets, text
documents and presentations.
EIOffice
is available in Chinese, English and Japanese-language editions,
written in Java, and runs under Windows® and Linux.
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