Salesforce predicts the end of the desktop

Marc Benioff: Collaboration is moving to the cloud

Salesforce.com used its Cloudforce event in London this week to talk up the importance of 'Cloud 2.0', which it said has already completely changed the way we communicate and work.

Marc Benioff, chairman and chief executive of Salesforce, pointed out that applications are no longer the only pieces of software being deployed through the cloud. Platforms including operating systems are now being consumed through the internet, as well as tools to build apps to help run businesses, he explained.

"Collaboration is moving to the cloud, and can serve companies of all sizes from startups to the largest enterprise organisations," Benioff said.

Benioff was also keen to differentiate between Cloud 1.0 and Cloud 2.0 platforms. Salesforce's enterprise software interface was originally modelled on Amazon.com in 1999, but the firm now sees Amazon as an example of Cloud 1 as it uses Windows/Mac operating systems, desktops, tabs and clicks.

Facebook, on the other hand, is a prime example of Cloud 2.0, Benioff said, adding that its feeds, push and touch features make it the "paradigm" in usability.

Salesforce is obviously impressed with Facebook, and its recently launched Chatter application is essentially an enterprise version of the social networking site. Chatter will be coming to iPhone and BlackBerry devices later this year.

Benioff said that Cloud 1.0 is easy to use, fast and low cost, but that the next step is to provide real-time social and mobile interactions.

"The world was different in 2000. We are moving into a desktop-less world, consuming objects and data in different ways," he said. "Why isn't all enterprise software like Facebook?"

In a not-so-thinly veiled attack on competitors such as Oracle, Benioff warned organisations to "beware of the false clouds" which are "not efficient, democratic or economical".