While it is not a good practice to predict, especially the future (;o)), this article about new Linux from Google caught my attention. If there is a gLinux, I would like it to be:
An orthogonally extensible desktop mash-up platform that blurs the desktop and the browser world
- We all know Google is a good internet destination – most of the time I am on Google, but it is a browser world. I really cannot leverage my desktop world effectively when I am there.
- Some issues Google could solve in this realm:
- Statfulness – Many apps like the gmap and others could use statefulness. Most of the time they really do not know who we are. What we need is an opaque bit bucket which stores all our interactions with the apps we interact with in the Google universe. This, of course, would be a security & privacy nightmare. So naturally we need the security & trust fabric which is …
- Trust Fabric – If we want to go anywhere near the rich usability, we need o transcend the trust vector. For example a stateful interaction with Google will elicit privacy concerns. Remember the opaque bit bucket – it is there for a reason – opaque to Google and everyone except when it is in our desktop ! Which then needs a trust fabric …
An essential device as the center of home networking
- The holy grail of home networking ! For example it could be a media server , a backup server or just a home destination.
- Again, opportunities for integration with other Google stuff, incl managed firewall/security services,Web 2.0 collaboration like Wiki, calendar et al
- This also has synergies with meshing the desktop/browser world
A platform for embedded devices
- We all are/will interact with multiple functionalities in different form factors and capabilities. We need an aggregator, a syndicator and ultimately a federator of these capabilities.
- What we need is not the device itself. but the platform !
- So that if we get a new home alarm system, it will interact with our existing management app in the gLinux !
- Such that when we get a GPS, any app that we use can instantly use it and make intelligent inferences
- …
And of course, mobility !
- Mobility of content,
- Mobility of devices,
- Mobility of “stuff” we all have – at home, at work, at play and all the places in between
- seamless, ubiquitous, pervasive and in the format we need ;o)
