How, precisely, would a program be "delivered over the internet" (as
Bill Gates and Lawrence Ellison have been saying about the future). 
Anotherwords, how would a program like MS Word or PowerPoint be
web-based.

Give me some specifics, like what languages, protocols, programs,
hardware, and utilities would make this possible.  Will any software,
besides an OS, have to be running to use a web based MS Word?  What
exactly is the meaning of a dummy client(As in a way of saying the
actual PC will not be running the MS Word software)?

What a funny question!

There are hundreds of programs that even now are being delivered over
the Internet and every program could be if it were not for copy
protection considerations.

Moreover many programs are being regularly updated over the Internet.

Yeh I agree - a strange one. 

There are many applications that currently run over the internet - a
typical example being any applets written in java. However, the OS and
web browser (IE is probably exempt! :P Rock on firefox) prevents
access to disk writes.

To answer your question quite simply we are at the stage of being able
to do this with current hardware, current OS, and if it wasn't for
security and the poor speed of executing byte code, java would be the
language of choice. Will we ever get to the stage that security is not
an issue over some distributed network? Probably not!

Yes I know java is currently being used.  But have you ever used a
java word processor? -- it blows.  My point is, how elite programs
like excel or word could be delivered over the net, which is what Bill
Gates wants to do in the future.  If it was easy to do now, wouldn't
it have been done already?  Common now.


Two strange comments -- 

probonopublico - Do you know how updates are done? -- Left-over
bandwidth is not nearly enough resource to run a mainstream
application-- And i'm not talking about programs that merely connect
to the internet.

Also, copy protection?  This would eliminate that concern entirely! 
That is why companies are spending millions researching the
possibility.

csguru - LOL - an applet? re-read the question.  
-I don't think disk writing would be a problem with the user's permission.
-Able to do this with current hardware?  Think about the average PC in use today...

By the way, don't be-little a question, it undermines the point of
this service.  This isn't a slashdot message board.

On must remember that probonopublico knows very little about computers.
However Bryan Does.

If it's burdensome to leave a comment, please don't.  If you want to
explore your thoughts on the subject, please do.

I have listened to many key-note's on the future of computing where
each has a sober vision of the future of the pc.

I understand that developers will obviously not want a dummy terminal,
but the average pc user utilizes only MS Office, a web browser, a
media player, and possibly some Adobe/Macrmedia....if that.

I did some work on a web-based java word-processor.  It was a horrible experience.

I think this "delivered over the internet" kind of thing could
probably refer to a few things.

1) an app that is hosted on a remote server and displayed locally,
such as has been done for an eternity of unix over the Z windows
protocol.  In that case, all application logic happens on the server. 
Only a graphics client runs locally and displays the application.  A
more-windows based example of this would be Citrix.

2)A client/server approach.  I don't think this makes any sense for
Word or Powerpoint

3)A web service architecure.  Think of it like this, when you develop
an app, you use library functions and classes.  A web service is
typically such that the library/class you use actually exists on
another machine.  It's similar to corba or rmi but it has an defintion
file of what it provides (WSDL) and can be done right over TCP/IP in
something like SOAP.  For example, the spell checker in word can be a
web service running on any number of machines.  When you hit spell
check, the app calls its spell checker function which behind the
scenes goes to the spell checker service.  Features of the app would
be implemented via various webservices.  This is a pipe dream for
something like Word right now though because its way too slow.  But as
latency improves, this becomes more of a possibility.

An example of an actual web service is google search.  You can
actually get google search results in your app via a web service they
provide.  Amazon also has web services for search their products.

Bill Gates is mega-rich but although, he gets enough right, he's not always right.

Around 30 years ago, his and Microsoft's vision of the future included
Xenix, a UNIX-based operating system. Where is Xenix today?

Later, he reckoned that the Internet would be no big deal. Where is
the Internet today?

Now, why on earth would Bill want to change the present method of
delivering Microsoft Office which is EVERYWHERE? It works and it makes
a bomb.

Also, don't believe everything you hear about 'total security'. It's a
dream that has yet to be realised, if ever.

Thanks frank.  Your comment was helpful.

probono - 
While Office works now, the company should never be complacent.  If a
viable alternative is ever available, (which if you tried Star Office
its getting close), Microsoft becomes junk-status.

Microsoft's cash cow was windows, now it is Office.  If Office wasn't
so cheap as a bundle feature with windows, I doubt anyone would want
such a flawed OS.  If you buy Office seperately, it costs as much as a
brand new computer.

Bill Gates is not the only one speaking of this.  I have also heard
Lawrence Ellison, Steve Jobs, and Marc Andreesen speak of this as
well.

And I have never heard of "total security."  Not sure what youre referring to...

Thanks for the comments!