Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

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Re: Office, server, client

Author:	Robert Cassidy
Posted:	4/29/2000; 11:01:33 PM
Topic:	scriptingNews outline for 4/29/2000
Msg #:	16773 (In response to 16764)
Prev/Next:	16772 / 16774

I disagree that browser and app are more in need of separation. You altogether missed the conflict.

MS threatened to ship Office because of Quicktime's threat to Windows. Apple supposedly trumped that threat with evidence of MS stealing intellectual property from Apple, and the resulting settlement was a cash payment to Apple (this is aside from the $150M investment) and a deal that Apple would excommunicate Netscape from the Mac family.

The goal here is NOT Office for Linux as we see it. This is a LONG TERM solution - 5-10 years out is where you look. Consider Office for BeOS, or for Mac OS X/Intel, Linux/Easel, hell maybe even AmigaOS. And consider a new Office competitor in these spaces and Windows as well - one which is as tightly integrated as Office is at the time.

Here's a billion dollar idea for someone (probably Adobe, but preferably Apple). Create a word processing suite that uses PDF as it's primary document format. Every file is easily catalogued and indexed with existing tools, every file is a web-native file (viewable in any browser), every file fits into existing workflow solutions and can even be the native file format for PS Level 3 printers (no driver issues!). It has built-in security features, compression, and is an open format.

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