Now, Free Ways to Do Desktop Work on the Web
The biggest expense in buying a new computer is not always the computer. After all, you can buy a new Dell desktop, and a good one at that, for $300 and get a monitor in the bargain. — The software to make a PC do anything useful can cost you as much as the computer.
Context & Ripple Effects
Dell had already cut PC prices as demand slowed, making a desktop-and-monitor package a low-cost starting point. Its confirmed Google software testing and Skype preload partnership show the company was also looking to software and online services to add value around the machine.
Against that backdrop, free browser-based work tools matter because they target the remaining major upfront expense: paid desktop applications. The question for buyers shifts from the price of the computer alone to how much paid software is still necessary.
First-order effects
- PC buyers can reduce the software share of a new-computer purchase by substituting free web tools for some paid desktop applications.
- Dell's Google and Skype software partnerships become more relevant to a sales pitch in which online services, rather than bundled boxed programs, help complete a low-cost PC.
Second-order effects
- Paid desktop-software vendors face a sharper price comparison when routine work can be done without an upfront license, while Dell can make hardware price a more central part of its offer.
- Google and Skype have added incentive to seek PC-maker distribution: networked software can help differentiate machines whose hardware margins are under pressure.
Third-order effects
- If free browser tools cover enough common tasks, value in the PC stack shifts away from packaged desktop software toward online service providers and low-cost hardware vendors.
- The model pressures the traditional assumption that buying a capable computer also requires buying a comparable amount of local software.
The trend: Personal computing is separating inexpensive hardware from paid desktop software as web-delivered tools challenge the latter's role in the total cost of a PC.