When every computer becomes your

Unnoticed by most Internet users, the moment is approaching when the main and only program on their computers will be a browser. Or rather, a software shell, which, by promptly downloading the necessary modules from the Network, can turn any PC at hand into a workstation with any set of applications for free. At least, the employees of the Swedish startup Xcerion , who have been working on such a system for five years, sincerely believe in this bright perspective.

Of particular interest to the activities of a young company among the public should be the sum of $ 10 million, which was recently invested in it by the Scandinavian venture fund Northzone Ventures . And against the background of other similar WebOS projects (for example, this one ), the brainchild of Xcerion looks really a bit more attractive. Initially based on XML (this is reflected even in the abbreviation XIOS invented for it), the client part of the system has theoretically much lower resource consumption than its Flash counterparts. And from the modern Ajax-environments XIOS differs, according to the authors, in depth study and good compatibility with existing software, thanks to a decent period of work on the alpha version.

The server part running on the company's exclusive proprietary platform promises to be extremely productive. The planned server park should master the simultaneous work with "millions" of users simultaneously.

Together with the finished applications produced by Xcerion itself, development environments for third-party companies will be supplied. Thanks to another special technology, the creation of applications in these environments will be many times simpler, cheaper and faster than the creation of their desktop counterparts. Therefore, theoretically, there is no need to reap the lack of additional and alternative software from other developers.
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Interestingly, the staff of Xcerion, in addition to CEO Daniel Arthursson (Daniel Arthursson, in the photo on the left) and CFO Jonas Thornholm (Jonas Thornholm, on the right) are two former Microsoft experts. This is Lou Perazzoli, who once became one of the key architects of Windows NT and led the development team for the core of the subsequent systems of the corporation, as well as John Connors, who ran the Redmond with all finances. Their contribution to the birth of a new generation of operating systems is extremely useful and also serves as another magnet for potential investors.

The company sees its success in the business model on which, in general, all the authors of various WebOS are going to work. To promote the idea embedded in it, the Swedes registered a couple of catchy slogans: “Software must be free” and “Every computer is my computer”. Of them, the key moments of the strategy are immediately clear: all software, starting with the shell itself, embedded in the browser, and ending with widget modules, will be distributed completely free of charge; and the main advantage of the network operating system - the ability to store all the files and settings on a remote server - will turn any computer with Internet connection turned up into your usual workplace. Xcerion plans to receive money from advertising in its services, or by selling a paid subscription that disables this advertising.

Their prospects in the Swedish company are assessed as very bright. The WebOS market is just beginning to take shape and is practically free for now. And Xcerion has already announced a subscription to the beta testing of services and promises to begin full-fledged work in the third quarter of this year. A little more advertising, and hordes of corporate clients will rush to it in search of a virus-free, ultra-mobile and incredibly cheap alternative to today's office suites. Of course, it would be so in the dreams of the creators of a startup. But in reality, they will have to face the bones and pragmatism of users, the need to give security guarantees on their business information servers a hundred times a day and, perhaps most importantly, with the competition of less radical, but still breakthrough office-in-browser projects from Google and others.