SimDesk applications will open and edit most common data formats, but they don't include all the bells and whistles of Office and other full-fledged applications. Davis said he expects that many clients will continue to provide Office or similar applications for some power users, while using SimDesk for average workers and to provide universal access. "We are not trying to go toe-to-toe with Microsoft Office," he said. "SimDesk can work alongside Microsoft Office, but it can do a lot more. You can't access an Office document on your cell phone." Microsoft has endured a number of high-profile defections from its products in recent months. Hewlett-Packard, Sony and other PC makers have ditched Microsoft Works, the lower-priced consumer version of Office, in favor of cheaper software packages from Corel and Sun. Paul DeGroot, an analyst for research firm Directions on Microsoft, said such high-profile customer losses don't pose an immediate threat to Microsoft, but they signal changing attitudes that could hurt the software giant. "It's not something Microsoft can be casual about or ignore," DeGroot said. "When a new product like this (SimDesk) gets a large reference account like this, it's very important. Customers need to know there's someone else that looked at the solution, adopted it and found a good basis for making the change." SimDesk adds an interesting twist, DeGroot continued, by employing a "thin client" approach: Most of the heavy lifting is done by a central server, allowing the client software to run on relatively low-end devices. "A very important thrust for Microsoft is to make the case for a fat client -- for connectivity, for the enormous processing power available on the PC," DeGroot said. "They need to avoid the trend toward companies adopting a very server-centric, thin-client approach."
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