Don’s got a good idea with the “business browser”. I remember there being a company (NeoPlanet if I remember correctly) that had done a “new” browser — by simply encapsulating IE with “skins”, new buttons, etc. I’m not sure what their business model was — I seem to recall it having sponsored buttons, skins, etc. so I guess it was advertising support.
Don’s notion of a business browser would seem to build on the same technical idea — but with potentially a new business model. The key question is what drives download/adoption…but then that’s the same question for Groove and they seem to be doing just fine. I also continously run a very thick client: “Radio Userland”. Could it also do more for me? You bet!
Read more about IBM’s Sash.
Why not leverage the Internet for more of what it‚s meant for? Connecting people and businesses. Connecting their applications. Doing it quickly and seamlessly. Harness the power of a fat client with the deployment ease and maintenance of a thin client. Build secure applications that integrate beautifully into the Windows and Linux desktops. Extend the capability of the Internet beyond http with Peer-to-Peer functionality. Quickly integrate existing web services from your business partners. Sound interesting? What if you can do it all in Javascript and HTML, not C++ and Java? What if you can do it all while offloading 50% of your web server load onto the client?