Apr 1, 2007 12:00 PM

Desktop, R.I.P.

Computing is moving off your machine and into the cloud.

In 2003, Yahoo Mail was the number two Web-based emailer in the US, after Hotmail. Yahoo senior VP Brad Garlinghouse was charged with pushing it to number one. So when he heard about an obscure competitor called Oddpost, he signed up for an account. From the moment Garlinghouse logged on, he realized the site was different. Flipping between messages was simple and quick. Moving messages into folders was a drag-and-drop operation. Using the service felt just like running a desktop program. "Oddpost was a tipping point," Garlinghouse recalls. "Not just for Yahoo, but for the Internet. It demonstrated what could be."

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Jason Tanz is the former site director at WIRED. He has written feature articles about the sharing economy, Internet celebrities, and videogame auteurs. ... Read More

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