The Disconnected Web
Thu, Feb 22 2007
By Jonathan Oxer
A couple of weeks ago I attended Kiwi Foo Camp, a very unusual event which took place in a little town just outside Auckland called Warkworth.
Foo Camp is unusual because it's rather difficult to explain what it is unless you've been to one. It's sort of a party, sort of a think-tank, sort of a 2-day networking session, and sort of a conference, without actually being any of those things specifically. It's generally referred to as an "un-conference", but that's also pretty meaningless unless you've been there.
It's an invitation-only event originated by O'Reilly, the computer book publisher, and is intended to bring together people from all around the world for a couple of days of discussion about cutting edge technology issues. About 120 people attended Kiwi Foo and it started on a Friday afternoon with a traditional Maori welcome, then large sheets of paper were placed around the walls of a meeting room with empty 1-hour timeslots covering the weekend. Rooms were provided with projectors and whiteboards and the participants then had to invent their own schedule for what topics would be covered, with their topic suggestions written up with marker pens on the large pieces of paper on the wall. Participants included programmers, entrepreneurs, authors, journalists, and even a couple of high-ranking politicians, so the sessions were equally eclectic: topics included techniques for funding technology startups; server virtualisation technologies; proposed changes to copyright law; advanced software debugging; and the ethics and latest techniques of human body modification / augmentation.
But one of the biggest "wow" moments of the weekend was delivered by Firefox developer Robert O'Callahan. Firefox is a web browser that is rapidly gaining marketshare over Internet Explorer particularly among web developers because it displays web pages more accurately and consistently and has a number of advanced features such as tabbed browsing and pop-up blocking. It also supports plugins to provide even more functionality if the basic features aren't sufficient and is much more secure than Internet Explorer. What Robert demonstrated though was a sneak peek at what will be possible with next-generation browsers, and that's what got everyone excited.
You're probably already familiar with the concept of "web applications": software that runs on a server and that you run using your web browser, allowing you to access it from anywhere without installing anything on your computer. The most obvious example is webmail: with a webmail account you can access your email from any computer with a browser. Just point the browser at the right address, log in with your account, and you're away. Some modern webmail systems are very sophisticated and actually look and feel just like a regular email program, allowing you to do things like drag messages between folders just like with regular desktop software. Many people now use Gmail or Yahoo! mail accounts as their main method for accessing their email and don't need email software installed on their computer at all.
There are many other examples, of course. Rather than install software for managing a collection of digital images, many people just use Flickr in their browser. Instead of installing Excel, some people just use Google Docs to create and manage spreadsheets without even needing a copy of Microsoft Office - and gain the benefit of being able to share and collaborate on documents with multiple people simultaneously, from any computer. And instead of running addressbook software, many people use web-based intranets with a built-in CRM (customer relationship management system) such as SiteBuilder that allows them to access their contact database from any computer.
The trend toward web applications has been going on for years but there's one big factor slowing down acceptance: the "disconnected web" problem. Web-based software is all fine and well when you're connected to the Internet, but what do you do if you're sitting in a client's office with a laptop and need to access your online calendar to schedule a meeting? Without webtone you're in big trouble.
There are two ways to solve the "disconnected web" problem: to make connectivity ubiquitous, or to make web applications work even while you're disconnected.
We're not quite at ubiquitous connectivity but we're getting closer, and initiatives such as the project to provide 38 cities in California with free wireless access are big steps along the way. But even then people will still need access to their applications when it's just not possible to get online.
And that's where some of the innovations in the next generation of Firefox come in.
The new features will provide a number of "hooks" that web application developers can use to provide persistence of applications even when the browser is disconnected from the Internet. The specific example that Robert demonstrated was using a webmail system while offline: he could browse through his inbox, read messages, and even compose new emails all inside the browser without a connection to the Internet. Then later, when he reconnected to the Internet, the application updates his inbox with any new messages that have arrived and also sends out any messages that he's written.
Sounds a lot like a regular email program, doesn't it! The difference though is that he didn't need to install it. He just pointed his browser at the webmail address, getting all the benefits of web applications (portability, flexibility, zero-install) while also being able to keep working when his Internet connection disappeared.
Other web applications could also be modified to allow them to provide some functionality while offline by using these techniques. Manage your digital photo collection in your browser from anywhere, and have newly added images sent up to the server automatically next time you connect. View (or even edit) customer contact details in your company's intranet while sitting in a taxi with no Internet connection.
The day is getting closer when we won't need any software installed on our local computers at all: just a next-generation web browser to access all our essential software using accounts at SaaS (software as a service) providers. Our entire working environment will be 100% portable: just walk up to any computer with an Internet connection, point the browser to the correct location, and have access to all your software and documents. It will also give us more flexibility about the types of devices we can use, because web applications can be accessed from a very wide variety of devices including desktop and laptop computers, palmtops, tablets, public access consoles, mobile phones, games consoles, and home theatre systems. Our whole concept of a computer will have to change: instead of being "the device that contains all my software and documents", it will become "just one of many doors into my virtual office."
No more worrying about backups. No more software installation. No more keeping track of whether documents are on your laptop, or your work computer, or your home computer. Whatever door you use will take you to the same place with everything where you last left it.
Sounds good to me!