Business computing in 2009: cheap, virtual and on the browser

The New York Times today had an interesting article today on consumers heading for the $200 netbooks as their technology solution. Here's the money quote from the article, "“The day of the Rolls-Royce laptop and the high-end computer may not be totally over,” said Charles King, an independent technology industry analyst in Hayward. Calif. “But certainly the audience for that type of product is getting smaller and smaller.”

The Times piece makes sense not just because it is only sensible that in tough economic times people look for less costly alternatives, but also because we are seeing after all these years the end of the operating system as a major factor in computer selection. In addition to a lousy economy, you can include the rise of virtualization, cloud computing and browser-based applications as co-conspirators making the operating system just one of many checkboxes in computer selection rather than the primary driver. 

This has yet to play out fully, but in the corporate world the business of building your applications around a secure browser is going to be a big deal. I don't think Microsoft's layoffs should be totally laid at the doorstop of the faltering economy. Yes, some readers didn't like my free advice for Steve Ballmer, but even Microsoft needs to focus on being a success in fields such as virtualization rather than trying to be all things to all people. Windows 7, the next OS on the way from Microsoft, is as notable for being positioned as having fewer (albeit more reliable) features than the many bells and whistles that accompanied Vista. 

But what about all those corporate applications that were never designed to be browser-based? Many of those applications reside in financial applications, and the merger and takeover activity, particularly in the banking industry, are going to see a lot of those applications being rewritten and restructured. In fact as online banking is showing, a lot of those apps have already been rewritten.

While there aren't many positive trends to point towards in a tottering economy, the increased use of virtualization, the development of virtual operating systems that can reside in several versions on a laptop (see my post on Symantec) and the ability to build substantial, safe business applications available through a browser interface provides a clear direction for developers, users and vendors to drive their company's technology strategy.