Web2.0

2006-03-16 Posted at 10:12:17 PM

I'm excited.

And it's not because I just drank a whole pot of coffee.

Well, maybe that's a part of it, but mostly it's because lately I have been reading about the future of the Web, and it's aptly named The Web, Version 2.0.



Imagine that instead of a harddrive, you have your files stored on the internet.

Imagine that instead of Word or WordPerfect or OpenOffice, you used an online version that you access through your webbrowser. Google recently bought a company called Writely, which does just that. There are several office suites available online already, that allow you to do word processing, powerpoint presentations, etc. through your web browser. You can then save it to your webserver or to your desktop.

Imagine that instead of your START menu, you used your BOOKMARKS.

Imagine instead of having your bookmarks on your computer, they were stored online.

This is already possible and the trend is growing. It is nice to be able to access your bookmarks from any computer. I use del.icio.us .

Pretty soon it won't matter what operating system you use, whether it be Windows, MacOS, or Linux, as long as it has a web browser.

That is very awesome. Just think about it.

That being said, here are some possible flaws to the whole concept:

There may be a problem with storing all information online.

First of all, it's a security issue. How do you know that Google isn't reading all of the documents you create with Writely? In fact, how do you know that they don't have employees whose sole purpose is to pour over your email every night?

Warning: crazy-weird coffee-high nonsense rambling follows. Read at your own risk.

That is everybody's worry. I have another.

The problem is partly about having all files stored online, and increasing bandwidth.

Imagine you could open up a file STRAIGHT from the internet, just as fast as you can open it from your harddrive. We are not that far off from it.

Say you liked to collect Simpsons episodes in avi format (say it was legal, for argument's sake. It could be anything, I am just using this as an example to illustrate my point). Instead of having Simpsons Season 3 on your computer, you store it online. You only have so much space on your server, and the Simpsons is taking up just about all of it.

You realize that someone else collects Simpsons episodes, heck, they have even MORE than you do. Their files are public, meaning anyone has access to them.

So, instead of filling up your own server space with .avi files, you decide to bookmark your friend's site. Remember, it's just as fast to open the files from his site as it is yours.

So, you delete all your Simpsons files and bookmark your friend's. Great. More space for you.

Soon, other people do the same thing. Pretty soon, your friend realizes that EVERYONE has deleted their Simpsons videos and they are just linking to his.

Now there are a few things that can happen.

First, your friend's server host gets annoyed because ALL Simpsons fans EVERYWHERE are flooding onto his site, and the host deletes his account.

Then, no Simpsons for anyone, since he was the one with the only copies left.

Or, your friend, being a opportunistic capitolist, decides to charge a fee for access to the Simpsons files (whether it is legal or not, he can do it). Then, the only copies of Simpsons that exist are no longer free.

Or, your friend decides that he no longer likes the Simpsons, deletes them from his server, and those being the only copies, they are no longer available for anyone.

What is happening here is that instead of a bunch of copies of the same file being spread all over the internet, they are all becoming less and less available as people DIRECT LINK to files instead of SAVING THEM, to save space.

It makes sense in the short run, it takes the same amount of time to load it from your friend as from your own server.

In the long run, the information, whether it be Simpsons episodes, or Open Source Software, or music, becomes less and less available and more centralized, and eventually extinct.

Just something to think about.

Peace,
Gav

Firefox hahahaha

2006-03-08 Posted at 08:48:59 PM

http://www.ie7.com

This is very funny. Microsoft won't be happy about this.

Podcasts

2006-03-08 Posted at 08:39:57 PM

Podcasts are awesome. My RSS reader notifies me of new podcasts from the sites that I like. I download the mp3 file, and put it on my mp3 player, and listen to it when I'm on the go. It's like listening to the radio, only I can pause it and rewind, etc. Check out the podcast directory here.

Peace out.

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