the web is the computer, intro
aka "The network is the computer, redux"
One of the first thing I alaways say when I'm trying and explain HTTP is to think of the web as of an associative array indexed on URLs. Repetition made me realize that HTTP was some kind of a bus between one CPU and some memory -- that, somehow, the Web was some kind of post-Von Neumann computer. I put this thought aside in a corner of my mind labeled "crap decantation area".
Recently, I had started using del.icio.us and thinking (as many others) about tags.
And the former idea kept popping up and bugging me.
It took me a while to see a relation between del.icio.us and the "the web is the computer" thesis because I was focusing on some too low-level stuff. Del.icio.us is not some part of the computer, it's a component of the operating system. Del.icio.us is the file system.
Meanwhile, the Atom folks (and to somee extent, some Microsofties led by Ray Ozzie and the Googlers behind Base) seem to be working on a better storage facility. An Atom store would be a data store accessed via the Atom Publishing Protocol.
So here is what we get: a file system and a storage facility. My question is: is it time to build other services on top of such? Imagine a webmail (or a photosharing or...) which would store mails where you want (by an Atom store provider) and classify them using del.icio.us?
Or may be it rephrased: is it time to start commoditizing web apps? Hence, you would be able to switch some webapp provider for another while keeping your data safe in del.icio.us and in your atom store.
Yet more stuff for the "crap decantation area".
One of the first thing I alaways say when I'm trying and explain HTTP is to think of the web as of an associative array indexed on URLs. Repetition made me realize that HTTP was some kind of a bus between one CPU and some memory -- that, somehow, the Web was some kind of post-Von Neumann computer. I put this thought aside in a corner of my mind labeled "crap decantation area".
Recently, I had started using del.icio.us and thinking (as many others) about tags.
And the former idea kept popping up and bugging me.
It took me a while to see a relation between del.icio.us and the "the web is the computer" thesis because I was focusing on some too low-level stuff. Del.icio.us is not some part of the computer, it's a component of the operating system. Del.icio.us is the file system.
Meanwhile, the Atom folks (and to somee extent, some Microsofties led by Ray Ozzie and the Googlers behind Base) seem to be working on a better storage facility. An Atom store would be a data store accessed via the Atom Publishing Protocol.
So here is what we get: a file system and a storage facility. My question is: is it time to build other services on top of such? Imagine a webmail (or a photosharing or...) which would store mails where you want (by an Atom store provider) and classify them using del.icio.us?
Or may be it rephrased: is it time to start commoditizing web apps? Hence, you would be able to switch some webapp provider for another while keeping your data safe in del.icio.us and in your atom store.
Yet more stuff for the "crap decantation area".