How affordable tech is changing the future

There was an article in this Sunday's New York Times about how today's new, more affordable technology is helping bring down high-tech conglomerates such as Apple and Microsoft, just as much as the collapse of Wall Street.

With almost every American wallet taking a hit over the past year, many tech consumers are opting for the $200 netbook, instead of the $1,500 MacBook. But it isn't just consumers. Companies are taking advantage of free or cheaper Internet services to keep their bills low.

More companies than ever are running their internal technology processes by taking advantage of the Web. They're also using free e-mail and online document services from companies such as Google, instead of buying their own, expensive hardware and software systems from Microsoft or Oracle.

But that's not the only takeaway from this story. Today's economy is increasingly driving web (and intranet) based computing.  Clearly the need exists and is growing for tools to easily build fast, AJAX-powered Web database apps with security and reporting (that will run on all browsers, including netbooks, Iphones, Macs and PC's) - and that is exactly what we see our mission at Alpha Software for Alpha Five.