The Business Web

Marc Benioff’s Memo :This is a time of seismic shifts in our industry. The internet is disintermediating the status quo, and old models of software cost and complexity are being replaced with new models of affordability and ease of use. The software industry is going through a transformation that is unlike anything it has seen in two decades, and the emergence of the PC itself. This transformation goes by many names: On-Demand, Web 2.0, Software as a Service. But they all point to the same conclusion: The era of the traditional software “load, update, and upgrade” business and technology model is over. It is time for “The Business Web.” New Internet-based companies are showing how services will replace software for both consumers and corporations. Sand Hill Road venture capitalists are no longer funding software companies; they are only funding service providers. Exciting new companies have emerged like salesforce.com and Google who have real businesses that can challenge and win against the old guard companies, and are. Customers love these new services, and are finding tremendous success as never before. A new range of start-ups are showing how this is just the beginning of the business web - that there are new technologies coming to replace traditional word processing, spreadsheets, and other staples of business with Internet services. But his rant against Microsoft new initiatives looks at best funny to read.