The inaugural Office 2.0 Conference will take place this month in San Francisco, California. According to its organisers, the conference will “bring together vendors, investors, industry analysts and journalists. The goal for the event is to collectively explore foundations for Office 2.0.”

Office 2.0 is the collection of business applications that require the user to have just a standard browser and network connection. It is the network computer reborn.

Ideally, all the application muscle is on a secure and well-managed, internet-attached server. Companies such as SalesForce.com, Google, SixApart and Socialtext are already leading the way.

The conference is an attempt to get industry movers and shakers together with journalists, analysts and users, and debate the prospects and practical issues for software as a service (SaaS).

No doubt the moderated sessions will be informative, but I suspect the best discussions will take place during breaks. It will be a great opportunity to separate hype from reality, to look for evidence of genuine progress or

an industry whistling in the dark – Bubble 2.0 anyone?

If this stuff, which embraces social computing and touches on Enterprise 2.0, is for real, I want some evidence. I want to meet suppliers with genuine customers, and customers with more than just a pilot application on the go.

It’s easy to see how these new technologies either replicate existing office software sufficiently well or add a social dimension. They also move the cost of software away from an IT purchase and towards a user-financed rental model.

Office 2.0 seems like great news for SaaS providers: it offers an “everyone’s a winner” option. Until, perhaps, a user organisation decides to do an audit and aggregate its software spend. This will bring the business strategies of the various vendors into sharp relief.

Whether it works out cheaper or more expensive than existing software, I have no idea. It depends on price per seat, and on whether users will tolerate advertisements in exchange for a “free” service. One thing is certain, though – it’s a slow way to earn a living for today’s software and services giants, which are used to occasional bumper revenue harvests and high consultancy and maintenance fees.

Sensible SaaS providers will settle for providing a good service at a reasonable price. Companies such as online accounting supplier Twinfield take this approach, and its happy customers include at least one that migrated from Oracle.

The IT world is soon to face huge, budget-sapping distractions. Major suppliers are trying to componentise their software into services, no doubt adding irresistible titbits of functionality to encourage migration.

Microsoft will to try to shift the world to its upcoming Vista operating system. Before long, the IT folk are going to be too busy wrestling with infrastructure to have the time, the interest or the budget to mess around with Office 2.0 unless it helps them in some way.

The IT department could get itself off an uncomfortable hook by letting its users find and finance their own applications.

If it happens to you, be sure you know whose interests your suppliers has at heart: yours or their own? n