Buzzword – SMOGIE

With the new Google browser so suddenly hitting the industry, I think we’ve got something spelled out.

Now the future of web development just became SMOGGIER than ever as the web giant entered in the field.

IE Killer?

When it first came out some people would first think about eliminating IE with it. Yeah IE is now the most blamed browser and is playing devil as many have imagined. So maybe we will see only SMOG in a few years? But IE’s solid market share since the mid 90’s will still keep it the most popular browser for another decade, as long as it’s still bundled with future releases of Windows. So it get to take on some one weaker than IE.

On a second thought, who is  the real victim? Whereas Safari comes with Mac OS X, Firefox is the orphan who only (pretty much) get OEMed by Linux OS-es. So the best case is that both Firefox and Chrome are included by future Linux OS releases. And then Windows and Mac OS users will select ONE from the two as the secondary/primary browser on  their machine, but not both, except web developers maybe. If Chrome works great, it will drain Firefox’s users first. So I think we will more likely see a SOGgIE situation sooner than SMOG if either situation ever happens.

Well, it seems that we’ve got into a real “No idea is too crazy” paradise. 3 weeks ago I post something about webware, and “imagined” a central OS that users can connect to from browser, and now it’s becoming reality! Anyhow, the webOS concept is still in discussion. Many people, including myself, have concerns about its application in the future, many issues have been raised. See the original post from the link below.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/…_vs_browser_apps.php

I quoted a section of it and would like to try to analyze a bit of the downsides we see from today’s point.

Analsis of the Downsides

• This issue is not only imposed on WebOSs, indeed most of web services are based on this server and client model. Everything we do largely depend on the performance of the server, and potentially there could be a failure of the system and we cannot do anything about the service. Just like we use MSN so often and even though it occasionally fails or rejects us from logging in, we don’t feel as if it’s the end of the world. Fortunately accountablity and stability are something websites and web service providers cherished to have, presumably. The bottom line would be, if you find comfort to transmit or store some sensitive information through or in a public email system, you might not feel less comfort to store them in a WebOS;
• Performance is the next big issue. According to today’s browser technology, relied on which even a smooth fading effect is not really “smooth”, it is such a turn down to imagine a graphic intense WebOS. Yet, the development of technology always turns out to be out of people’s expectation, in a relatively long term, say 20 years. Now step back from fictions, in the following few years, at least bandwidth won’t be a bottleneck at all. Internet access? Welcome to the “Wireless Matrix”, in which Neo doesn’t have an Ethernet port!
• If you think WebOS as a complement or a backup of DeskOS (what’s the word again?), it would not need direct controls on the devices. How are you going to change your hard-drive? Buy one from eBay and fill in the address of your WebOS host company?
• Web technology is still in its infant age, people are exploring the capabilities. It’s a bit too early to know what they will be like 5 years later. Before the Windows time, was it really clear what was going to come up and dominate the world? People are exploring, everyone is. Yet once people find out they’ve got enough to start with, backwards compatibility would be considered, or, it may not matter at all!
• As I’ve mentioned above, WebOS, is a good partener of the DeskOS (still cannot remember its original name), not a step son of it. The idea of having a central WebOS, was largely derived from the trend that people are having more than one terminals in their household and are getting frustrated by the complication of synchronizing these dull computers. They are supposed to communicate with their buddies spontaneously, aren’t they? So will less people have multiple PCs at home? No. Then, the need and the market is big.
• It’s evident that WebOS is not powerful in terms of performance. Admittedly, I don’t think installing a game on my WebOS and play the game using the server’s CPU would ever happen. My thought is, the DeskOS (again~) would retain the power to run games, play movies, make graphics and store downloaded data. While WebOS, stores my Calendar, my Address Book, my Notes, my Documents, my Pictures, and my Works etc.; basically things update frequently, containing non-sensitive information if you want.