When you run software, you bring it to life. Well that is what I think is the rationale behind www.live.com. The interface is cool and functionally convenient, but nothing that is “wow”. However recently I was talking to Steve Smith at ASP Alliance and he pointed out www.foldershare.com.
It is an acquired Windows live service, originally developed by Byte Taxi Inc, that lets you sync folders across PCs in a secure manner using P2P techniques. It really solved a long standing problem of mine – how to keep about 3 desktops and 2 laptops in sync. I tried rsync etc, but nothing worked very well, so I finally resorted to lazy update. But with this I can keep all my documents in sync. It works well with NAT, as it has UPnP to work around the block ports.
I had it up and running in less than 15 mins, thanks to RDP. The only short coming…well you know it – Windows and Mac only. What do I do with my linux files (few scripts can take care of that, I guess).
A few years back Sun came out with the tag line “the network is the computer”. It was at the time Java was doing wonders with it elegance and framework support. At first I scuffed, and thought back to the days of the mainframes and thin clients, who would want to go back to those day!
But it made me wonder and speculate. Java was developed by some very smart people, so what led to the distilled marketing message. While we can merely speculate about the future, one thing is for sure – bandwidth will become cheaper and web based services will address many trivial day to day need. Like these day I use my browser is the most used application on my computer – for email, banking, news and information and research. While I do some development on my computer but I can work with a Vim console on a server. And I find a computer with out an internet connection almost useless. Maybe offline word processing? But then Google just bought Writely – online word processing. No software to install and all your data is backed up (security concerns anyone?) and Microsoft is pushing for “Live” – web based software services. Many cool and useful apps and this is just the beginning.
So what makes the network the computer? A lot of things have to come together, for starters the network itself. Then the protocols and we are in a state of flux at the application and software levels. Today we can develop distributed app (e.g. mash up, SOA, or orchestrated web services) which were just “in theory” just a few years ago. So maybe we all saw it coming but they were closer to realizing it.
I love Google maps and virtual earth. But they have a limitation of only showing maps of US, Canada and a few European countries (for now atleast). But I just stumbled across Microsoft Research India. Finally the map of India is online using Virtual earth technology. Take a look:
http://virtualindia.msresearch.in/
It would be cool to develop a mash up of your travel itenary that your travel agent provides with a detailed map from Virtual earth. Soon, very soon.. I can almost see how it is going to work.
We in software development build everything from scratch. How many times have we created the login control? Software engineering researchers have been harping a lot about reusable code, but developers always find it easier to copy and paste than to build a good library (not everyone though). But even if we build libraries they are not designed well enough to fit every scenario that it was planned to handle.
Then came design patterns by the gang of four. It is not a easy read and will not make sense till you can see the pattern. I have it for years and go back to it to see how the threads weave into pattern. Today I came across Yahoo! Design Pattern and UI pattern libraries for web development. Earlier today I watched Atlas being presented by Nikhilk Kothari at Microsoft. It seems there are finally libraries, patterns, and code bases that will temp even lazy programmers like me to use some rigor and discipline in to the development process.
ASP.NET 2.0 also offers such great patterns like the Providers. Are we coming of age? For some it is buzz words like Web 2.0 and SOA but the rest it is a exciting new world and one that is better.
I was reading an interview on ENIAC’s co-inventor J. Presper Eckert and found out that Unisys had its root in ENIAC. Kind of nostalgic. I really liked what he said – “I am happiest when I am working on the edge of something — where there are not many people who have done it. When nobody has done it, it is pretty tough. That gets me excited.”
Now I know the feeling and why I get bored with something that I know has been done already.
You can read the interview here: Link to Article
I use about 4-5 computers between all the places I am at. I have always wanted to have my folders in sync between the machines to get a unified view of the way data my data and files are organized. There are many tools like I have tried (E. g.Sync Toys from Microsoft), but they are very limited.
While I have Goole Desktop on one of my computers (not the new version), I do not have it configured to not send any data back to google and have a few firewalls to verify internet activity, though it is hard at time to guess.
While searching across computers using the technique proposed by Google, works. I would think that it is technically the least feasible. I would better install some peer-to-peer software that exchanges meta data between the known peers and keep the files in sync. If you have Cygwin, even rsync could do the job with a little workaround with your NAT routers.
However the approach taken by Google will require tremendous amount of storage capacity and and other networking and computing resources to enable cross computer searching. Now given that the tool is “free”, why would a for profit company want to take this approach? Bear in mind that they have some of the brightest minds working for them, so lack of technical competence is ruled out.
My take is, better information all all aspects of a person using their services.
Well they can index everything from your surfing habits to your personal documents. Then they can mine the data that can be very (did I say very) valuable for marketers and targeted advertisers. But with so much data on a indivisual, it is like the apple in the Garden of Eden, too hard to resist the temptation. No matter what Google says about privacy, it is not something I would do and will proactively advocate other people not to use it.
Google has been holding up against the Feds for giving out its search log data. While I am sure most Google users appreciate this, including me there is something which makes me uneasy in the gut. For one, how much information do they have? Then how long can they hold up. Eventually they will have to give in.
For one thing it has somehow changed my behavior in using online search engines. For one thing I clear my cache and cookies more often. Then at every opportunity I switch search engines. Sometime..though rare I even reboot my router for a few minutes to get a new IP from my ISP. Privacy concerns? who really cares? I would any way give away information for a chance to win a fee lunch.
But when I am logged into Google for personalization and do searches they can easily build a profile of what I do. While targeted ads are ok and in some cases good, what happens when the nosey BB wants access to everything? Can Google defend itself against entities that are really out to get access to its data? Privacy laws are so loose and do not translate borders.
Not everyone says “do no evil”.
We do what we do mostly with good intentions and the limited knowledge we possess. If one were to sit back and think about the course of events it would be fun to see how seemingly random decision form an intricate and well connect story of our life.
Had it not been for the Commodore 64 and my generous friend Alok (Balwin’s, in a past life), I would have not every though of programming. Had it not been for the interest in programming I would not being in Computer Science…and eventually writing this blog post. Could I see it back then? Of course not! Will I be able to see it from this point forward? I want to say yes, but the truth is no.
If one looks beyond himself, the same applies to things at a much grander scale. Take our planet for example. Today we do what we do knowing very well that we are pushing the planet to the edge. Had we known this, would our course of action been any different? Knowing this are we doing anything different? Are we not like kids with match sticks, not knowing the consequences…
By no means am I the person qualified to answer this question. But I can still ask it and I can make some observations. I was reading about Prepme.com. A very entrepreneurial team started it to offer a way to prepare for your SAT. Well if I were to take an outsiders view, I would think with heavyweights like Kaplan and Princeton Review, why would one want to get into this market?
But that did not stop Karan Goel and Avichal Garg from making a business plan out of it and to top that will the Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge award. Now that being said four key observation I could make quickly were:
- They were very close to the problem and understood the pain. This understanding of the problem, most likely (only guessing), made them passionate about solving it.
- They had a very focus problem to solve. Not trying everything to save the world, but just one problem which they seemed to have addressed very well.
- Technology that enabled them to leap frog into the already established market. Luck for them they did not have to create the market.
- Market timing – The number of people taking SAT and other exams like these is growing at a significant rate. More people, different needs and there is never a one size fit all.
Technology applied in a clever way to solve everyday problem and at the same time make good business sense is essential my aphrodisiac.
Best of luck to www.Prepme.com
I have often wondered if we as a specie can sustain ourselves with our current rate of consumption. In some ways we are parasitic and seem take a lot from nature and our environment with no end in sight. For quite some time the question – “When will our consumption exceed our production capabilities?” had been on my mind. One of the first things that I think of is commodities – Oil, natural gas, food grain etc. At the rate we are growing – in population and consumption patterns, we will soon be at a point where we will surpass production. What happens then? Can’t we see it coming and change our behavior?
Interestingly NPR’s Science Friday (definitely my favorite radio show), had a discussion on this topic recently and many of my observations are in fact real concerns. The study discussed in the program was focused on China. If Chinese start consuming at the rate which Americans consume, we will have a huge short fall in less than 20 years. One of the examples was of oil. Current world production is 83-85 mil barrels/day. By 2020 China alone will need 90 mil + barrels/day and production of oil will not get any higher that current levels. This is just one commodity. If China starts consuming paper like the US, we will have to wipe out the forests of the world. Not ideal for our sustenance to say the least.
So what can we do? I think the answer is two fold. On one end of the spectrum we have to implement global policies, which needs bold leadership (no were in sight!) and at the grass root level each individual will have to become more environment friendly. It means more than separating recyclable stuff from regular thrash; it has to be imbued into our everyday life. Don’t leave the tap running while shaving. Don’t print anything that is not necessary. Don’t drive if you can walk or use a bicycle. Use energy efficient cars…So many thing and there very little things can have a huge impact.
But we are so reluctant. Why?