The Web: Software, on demand

CHICAGO, March 22 (UPI) -- Major software players like Microsoft Corp., Oracle and SAP have started responding soberly to a trend that has been slowly escalating for years: selling "on demand" software. Such software is sold over the Internet, exactly when the company actually needs to use it, experts tell United Press International's The Web column.

Soon, shrink-wrapped software, purchased from the store, or a reseller, may disappear, or at least gather lint, like dot matrix printers and other relics of the early days of the information age. By Gene Koprowski