Here is but one example of many recent calls for something
radically different from Internet-based applications as we have to
suffer them at present: (01)
At
http://weblog.infoworld.com/fatalexception/archives/2008/07/is_the_web_stil.html (02)
Neil McAllister draws our attention to some of the more evident
ways in which, with RIAs or Rich Internet Applications, the Web
has diverged awkwardly from its original simplicity. He concludes
with these two paragraphs: (03)
"These distinctions invite important questions. Is it still the
Web if it's not really hypertext? Is it still the Web if you
can't navigate directly to specific content? Is it still the Web
if the content can't be indexed and searched? Is it still the Web
if you can only view the application on certain clients or
devices? Is it still the Web if you can't view source? (04)
"Equally important, if today's RIAs no longer resemble what we
would call the Web, then is shoehorning those applications into
the Web's infrastructure really the right way to go? If
application developers feel limited by the constraints of
standards-compliant browser technologies, should they really be
targeting their applications for the browser? Or is the problem
that the client platforms simply aren't evolving fast enough to
meet our needs? The debate on these issues is only just
beginning." (05)
As you will see in the still forthcoming 5th instalment of my
"MACK basics" series, the MACK AOS or Application Operating System
is in effect a proposed realization of the kind of alternative
application platform which McAllister might have in mind. It
represents a clean break, based on many philosophical,
architectural and technical considerations, some of which were
identified by my recent post to this list, now at
http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/2008-07/msg00026.html,
which did at least hold out the prospect of a spectacular
vindication of the expectations of believers in the central role
of ontologies in our future applications. (06)
(In case you have missed it in all my verbiage on this list, the
MACK AOS is designed to replace the Web browser and the email
client, along with many other familiar features of present
distributed applications. I have not tried to argue that point
yet, as I have long preferred to await the effect of following
what I call "Medawar's Dictum", namely that "Theories are not
displaced by facts, they are replaced by better theories." I am
hoping - and boldly intending - that with the 5th instalment you
will start seeing more clearly just how the anticipated
MACK-compliant ecosystem will cleanly replace and spectacularly
surpass the unhappy present modes of our Internet-leveraging
existence. (And yes, I am sorry, this is more mere verbiage, but
I am hoping that that 5th instalment will finally deserve all this
build-up to it! Its subtitle, by the way, is this: "from simple
elements to building applications".)) (07)
Christopher (08)
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