The computing dream that we described above, that of free and unfettered access to data on the network, will be a nightmare without this protection. In the Central Era, the mainframe and OS needed protection from the omnipotent IBM, which controlled most of the business computing at the time. The market afforded us that protection, leading to the Personal Era. In that area, the desktop needed protection from Microsoft, which dominated the desktop. We didn't take care of that very well, partly due to the fact that the Personal Era of computing occupied a fairly small slice of our history.
Emphasis comes now to the public network, and away from the desktop.
The desktop has suddenly become less important. The network is in. Content is in. The desktop is out. What We Need Knowing that the paradigm of computing has changed, and that control of data means control of the enterprise, whatever its definition may be, how we approach data control is most important.