Recently I've been very interested in AJAX, not only because of the cool applications already out there, but also because of the format's potential. I like the way AJAX allows you to take your desktop away from your desktop, so to speak. In other words (for the benefit of any non-geeks reading this--though I doubt there are any ; - ), AJAX allows developers to write programs as powerful as conventional programs that run in a browser. This is good for several reasons. The main one is the fact that running several AJAX programs inside a browser uses far less CPU than it would to run programs with the same capabilities outside the browser in the operating system. Another advantage is the fact that you can access your favorite programs from any computer with internet access. There is one disadvantage with AJAX: you need to be connected to the internet to use most AJAX programs effectively. However, I don't see that being much of a problem in the future. I believe that dial-up will die soon, leaving the vast majority of people with an always-on connection. Those who need to work "on-the-go" will use BlackBerries, Treos (and other PDAs), and laptops with nation-wide wireless cards like those currently sold by Verizon, Sprint-Nextel, and (most recently) Cingular. High-speed connections will become less expensive, and enough people will switch to superfast connections (like Verizon's new FiOS service) to make them considerably less expensive. The same will happen to the cellphone-service providers' nationwide wireless plans. So in the future that I envision, basically everything would be connected to the internet all the time.

Therefore, why have an operating system at all? It sounds pretty drastic. There is a lot of convenience that goes with an operating system. People like to have all of their favorite programs in the same place. However, I'm thinking of something different from a bunch of seperate AJAX programs. I'm thinking of a web-based operating system. It wouldn't have to be fancy. There are services out there that offer free web-based storage. It would be very easy to build a "virtual computer"; all of the parts and pieces already exist.

An early version could be made right now, with the goowy user-interface, Writely as the word processor, a slick AJAX email client (there are dozens of them), a calender/to-do list ("Remember the Milk" is one of these) . . . There are not many widely-used desktop programs that do not have an AJAX counterpart. Now, linking all these AJAX programs together in this fashion may seem a bit clumsy, but, from the non-techie user's perspective, what is an operating system but the glue holding a bunch of programs together? In this futuristic vision, the actual computer would be nothing but a gateway to the internet, running a full-screen lite browser and nothing else.

This idea may be before its time, or it may be crazy nonsense. But I think it's a good one, and that's why I'm going to try it. I'm in the process of recruiting people to help me. If you're interested and you can write AJAX, do web design, promote the idea on your site, or provide helpful ideas, please contact me: Jbw1291@gmail.com. You can also visit http://apos.illumeon.com.

Last Modified: Thursday, January 1st, 1970 @ 07:00

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