R.I.P.: The Desktop

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the desktop is still PERVASIVE but it's a walking ZOMBIE. Others have long written far more responsibly and less hyerbolically about this trend, but this is a site that earns its stripes through highly probably hyperbole, so it' safe to assert: there is no long term future in the stand-alone "local desktop" rubric. It is a lifeless shell of it's former glorious self. It has served humanity well, and ought not be derided for running its leg of the computational relay race as best it was able.

However, go take a look at the demo site for Mail.Zoho.Com; particularly the "Bureau" view, a name and dashboard view which I hope they will keep into full production. Or for an advanced full-blown web desktop, try Desktop Two (hey Adobe Corp and BSD developers, we really *need* flashplayer9 and up to date adobe reader plugins for the most innovative early adopter group -- *ix geeks -- to help you jump start adoption, man!) So, it may take a few more years to breath its last gasp, but it's officially time to re-re-re-redeclare ALT.DESKTOP.DIE.DIE.DIE is imminent.

Zoho's FIRST here is to provide a viable, scalable, working prototype of a client-side office WebTop. Others have done bits and pieces, and these sites have clearly built upon the shoulders of giants; however, it is now Too Late To Be First to bring almost 20 years of supportive efforts together as a single, compelling, easy-to-use WebTop environment. I'm thrilled that there are many others working to keep Zoho honest, but there just appears to be nothing missing here.

Zoho seems to have Nailed It.

By 2012, just give me BANDWIDTH and a BROWSER and I should have all the client-side computing resources I'd ever need, right at my fingertips! If that sounds aggressive, or too soon, realize that 2012 would be nearly two decades from the time the idea of WebTop initially emerged!

Cudos again to Sun Microsystems, who made the official First Call on this one with their Java WebTop framework, so long ago! Some of the earliest usenet mentions of "Java" and "WebTop" date back to the summer of 1996!

THE WEB *IS* THE OS!

THE NETWORK *IS* THE COMPUTER!

FINALLY!

too.late