The Web vs The Cloud

It's still very early after the launch of Opera Unite, but already, I'm seeing some logic to the idea of saving your personal documents and media files locally, instead of 'in the cloud'.

While it's always been possible to share files from your home computer through remote management tools, the engagement of a web browser as the conduit, may well bring content sharing to the masses. By installing and activating the Opera browser, anyone can host a meeting, publish resources, or share media files.

As the open source development community begins to imagine new applications for this browser, consider a future where any mobile device might have direct access to the files and programs on any other computer. Mobile, hyper-networked computing, might completely re-wire the nervous system of today's World Wide Web.

The brief overview provided to TechCrunch tells the opening chapter of what promises to be an ongoing story.



Questions to consider:
Might traditional 'cloud computing' become less popular?
Can software be accessed and run through this browsing technology?
Why might we want to access our home files from handheld devices?
How secure will the unshared files on my computer be?
Will loopholes allow hackers to leverage our computers as drones?

And the big question on everyone's mind:
Will 'Opera-tives' really pursue facial gestures as hinted on April 1st? ;-)

Chrome Comes to Life

It's Here! Google Chrome and it's companion open source code page, Chromium, are now available in beta form for PC users. Highlights include: ready access to the sites you visit most often; an intuitive search/address bar called 'omnibox'; and a minimalist package worthy of Google's heritage.

Here are my first impressions, including a quick comparison to Firefox, Safari, and Flock (6 minutes).


I'm guessing that Chrome will soon be a key component of Android and the Google Phone, and while it's not earth-shaking enough to get me to run Microsoft Windows, I'll be downloading the Mac version when it's ready for prime time.

Google Gets into the Browser Game

It makes perfect sense. For years, Google has been the search tool of popular choice, so why shouldn't they be in the browser business? The news on the Official Google blog says they will be joining the game with "A Fresh Take on the Browser".


The launch of Google Chrome promises to create an era of fresh thinking in response to the realities of Web 2.0. Even with tabbed browsing, most browsers run on engines created to take advantage of one web resource at a time. Google intends it's browser to be capable of multi-tasking, while handling the full range of evolving web applications.

Google's own comic book explanation clearly outlines the goals of the project, but I prefer the crisper version posted by Blogoscoped.com.

The beta release of Google Chrome is intended exclusively for MS Windows, but versions for Mac and Linux are promised. My fingers are crossed in the hope that Google Chrome will get us on track to use the browser as a powerful app, rather than a simple window to the web.

Late addition: Live Blog of the press conference/demo/launch says the code for this browser will be very open. If you're into that sort of thing, visit Chromium.

Later addition: It's available now! http://www.google.com/chrome


Image Credit: The comic book is shared by Google via Creative Commons attribution, non-commercial, no derivative works 2.0 creative commons license