Re: [BLUG] NOV meeting topic

Perhaps all of this will come to fruition regardless with Google Docs
and Spreadsheets?

We are making hardware that continues to operate faster and faster, but
surely there will be a time where the demand for blazing fast processors
levels out when it comes to your average home PC and the non-gaming
crowd? After all, your average user doesn't need an eight core rig to
type up stuff, get their email, instant message, and access the web...

It seems that the 3D desktop thing may have pushed for more demanding
hardware specs to run modern operating systems in recent years, but I
don't think it is overly naive to predict that this will level out too.

I'm hoping that 3 year product upgrade cycles will slowly become 4, 5,
or even longer product upgrade cycles for your average computer user in
the coming years. There is planned obsolescence, but nobody is forcing
upgrades either. How much crap can you cram into a word processor or
spreadsheet app anyway before people start to realize that they don't
really need to upgrade?

I'm also thinking that we may have to gut the way we think of
programming web apps and start over. AJAX is a pretty sloppy hack that
attempts to work around the fundamental idea that HTTP retrieves entire
pages. Maybe we need a new version of the HTTP standard that will handle
partial fetches and sending of data? If this was handled at the protocol
level, it would certainly take pressure off of browser and web
developers in developing cross browser Javascript?

Steven Black wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 11, 2007 at 09:19:02AM -0400, Chris Colvard wrote:
>> I was thinking about this awhile ago. Now think of these thin-client
>> front ends being provided by an ISP with the ISP providing online
>> storage space and the typical apps people use (Word Processor,
>> Spreadsheet, etc.) as AJAX applications (or something else hosted). If
>> the ISP owns the thin-client then a subscriber doesn't have to manage
>> software or buy new computers and the ISP probably gets a much easier
>> support environment since the thin-client's only function is connecting
>> to the ISP's servers. Thoughts?
>
> That sounds like the definition of "Internet Appliance".
>
> In the commercial sector this has been tried a number of times, and in
> each case it has failed. (I worked on one in the late 90's and saw it,
> and that market as a whole die off.)
>
> Was the market not ready for the Internet Appliance in homes? Perhaps.
> It also hasn't been ready for the previous several attempts at creating
> light-weight computers for home use.
>
> In an environment where people expect Desktop-like computers, it is
> likely to be a hard sell. However, if you do what Símon was talking
> about, and go overseas and sell it to an entire building at a time...
> It may be doable, especially if you're dealing with an environment
> in which most people are not expected to have computers at all.
>
> Cheers,
> Steven Black
>
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--
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http://www.netmusician.org
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