Client side tech

I've been thinking about the client side technology on the Web.

It seems that there is a fundamental disconnect between how the web was originally envisioned and what we have now. A whole host of client side technologies blindly trying to make the experience more desktop like.

Alan Kay talked about how each data format should carry with it it's own interpreter. Which is a very good idea if you are sending data formats across the http stream.

But stepping back, what is wrong with providing a desktop app across the net. Net speeds are more than adequate. The tech has been around since the early days of X11 but is now implemented in a number of protocols e.g. VNC

So is the world ready for such a radical departure from the current browser centric view of net applications?

My idea is not provide a remote desktop but apps that are under control of your current WM that merely run on a remote server. Wrap VNC up in SSH and you have a simpler deployment path and also a far simpler development environment.

Now moving away from the traditional business apps that can be hosted where does this take us? It's easy to host traditional thick client apps on the server and then display the output remotely. I feel that video and any sort of games are not a good match.

Opening salvo

I'm using this as a place to keep a log of some of my ideas and thoughts. It's not meant for public distribution but I don't care if it does get linked. In short, it's written for me not you!

It'll be mostly about computation and software development. My ideal situation is when all programmers are made redundant. I believe this will happen when we have 'self aware' systems. I'm guessing I'll still have a job in 100 years.

I'll probably post one essay per month, and litter a few thoughts per week as I go. These posts will probably sound familiar to anyone who has discussed this stuff with me before.