Midori

Microsoft has announced that they are thinking of moving away from the traditional model of computing to a web based one. Their plan is to have a drastically cut down version of the OS and have it access web servers to load applications and data from, basically all that is running is a kernel and a web browser.

There are some benefits to this; you don’t need to upgrade your software anymore, once it is updated on the server, everyone benefits; your data is accessible from any computer with a web browser (potentially); your computer doesn’t need to be a beast just to run the core applications (Vista, I’m looking at you).

Of course, there are several downsides. Your data is no longer stored on your own computer but resides on a server owned by a corporation. How do they store it? Is it encrypted? What about backups? There is also the proprietary technology problem. This is Microsoft we are talking about, they are not exactly the most open about how their stuff works. Are folk gonna be able to access their data from a non Midori system (Linux, Os X et cetera.)? What about viruses? Worms?

Another issue is gaming. I’m not a huge gamer but I can see some potential problems. What OS will games run on? Will there be support for fancy graphics?

The main concern I have is privacy. I’m not too keen on a big corporation having access to all of my data so they can analyze it, sell me stuff and display ads to do with the documents I have. It is also pretty much guaranteed that groups like the RIAA and MPAA (may they rot) will also look through your stuff to make sure none of it is “bad”. If they do find something they object to, it will be hellishly easy for them to find out who you are and where you live so they can haul your ass to court.

Yet another problem is the issue of power. Say you are working on an important document. Lightining strikes something close by and the power goes out. Your laptop (assuming you mainly work one one as a lot of folk do) will still be active due to the battery but your net connection most likely will not. What happens to the data? Will Midori allow you to save a local copy?

Along the same lines is the net connectivity problem. WiFi is still not prevalent enough to allow you to wander along the street and have a continuous connection to any server. There are areas where there is no net.access whatsoever.

There are technologies that can mitigate these issues a bit. Google Gears is one, it stores some of the application data locally. This means that you do not need to download a word processor coded in JavaScript every single time you connect. It automagically executes the copy you have stored.

A while ago I came across eyeOS which gives you the benefits of using a web based OS for all your documents yet means that no single corporation has access to all of your data. Open Source as well! You can download and install it on a computer you own that is web accessable. I think I’ll give it a shot once I get some time to play with things.