The Orange County Register
by Chris Farnsworth

Fountain Valley, Calif., Dec. 7, 1999 – John Tu and David Sun, the multimillionaire duo behind Kingston Technology, launched the first Web site that lets individual customers rent Microsoft Windows software over the Internet on Tuesday.

At www.personable.com, people can use almost any MS office application - from Word Excel - without buying Microsoft's products. What's required is a computer, an Internet connection and a monthly fee that tops out at $30.  And the software is updated automatically whenever a new version is released by Microsoft.

"Now you can just go to our Web site, subscribe, and within three seconds, you can use any Microsoft application," said Benjamin Chou, president of Personable.com, a privately held startup backed by Tu and Sun. "It doesn't matter where you are - in the office, at home, or on the road - all you have to do is plug in with your browser."

Personable.com attempts to bring the Application Service Provider model to the consumer market. ASPs rent software to businesses over the Internet, usually calculated by employee head count.

According to Internet market analysts The Yankee Group, ASPs will grow to an $11 billion business by 2002, up from 3.1 billion today.

But the fledgling ASP market is focused on businesses and often involves specialized software rather than the basic computer functions sold by Microsoft.  Until now, no one has set up an ASP for the everyday customer.

William Dering, an analyst with C.E. Unterberg Towbin in New York, said there's potentially a huge market for a consumer ASP, but there's more money on the business side right now.

"Right now, (consumers) might not be the real sweet spot in the market, " Dering said.

However, Keith White, a marketing director with Microsoft, thinks that Personable.com will fill an important niche.

"The reality is, anyone with a computer and a home can use the software over the Internet," White said. "Our whole company strategy favors developing software as a service. ... I see ASPs as only helping reach more customers that might not go into a retail store."

The Yankee Group's study also says consumers will fuel much of the growth in the ASP market.

For example, many of Personable.com customers could be buyers of "Web computers" - lower-cost PCs that offer first-time users an Internet connection. Buyers of these PCs could user Personable.com instead of loading software from a box.

Personable.com, which currently employs 30, is offering a free trial for its service until Jan. 10.

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