Battle for hosted app market

We've all seen some of the evidence for the move towards hosting applications online with Google's online spreadsheet program. The concept is simple of course; why should we bother going to the trouble of installing programs on our computers when we could just type in a URL, log in and the program opens??

Google has made it's move offering the online spreadsheet in an effort to compete with Excel, but there are many companies providing various (some quite complex) programs using the same concept. Microsoft, not wanting to be left out of what it views as the next big thing, has unveiled online versions of it's Windows and Office applications. Microsoft likes to refer to its online applications as "Live Software." In my opinion, Microsoft has a long way to go before this live software is anywhere close to being as useful as its standard Office applications, but I guess they want to get their foot in the door before other companies grab the market. You can read a little more about it here.

Once really nice example of online software done right is the CRM software offered by Salesforce.com. This company provides a CRM software that is entirely available online to paying customers. The benefit to companies who choose this software is that they dont have to invest as much in server hardware to host the application in-house or the associated IT costs.

In the near future you won't be going down to the store, buying some software and installing it on your computer. All you'll have to do is subscribe to the program online and begin using it right away.