Privacy and new web technology, can we have both?

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With the drop of Google's browser, there has been discussion on whether this is Google's first step on its road to world domination, or just another large, well coded nail into the coffin of our online privacy.  Excuse me, since when did the release of a web browser mean so much?  Is this a throw back to the browser wars fought by Netscape and Microsoft (IE)?

Google have delivered a nice piece of software, which on beta release, is fast, compatible and has a bunch of neat features that integrate with our online lifestyle very well.  Plus, add in the fact that it is open source, and all those things that we miss from Firefox will probably be just around the corner.  As you can see, I quite like it, and when I can get a version for the Mac, I'll spending a lot more time with it.

I see Chrome as an important step in the online world.  Of all the software Google offers, Chrome is the glue, the gooey, sticky gum that will help everyone bond with the resources and products Google provides, and in turn, help Google to continue pushing the envelope and building better web technology (with less glue).

New and better web technology is something that we all want.  Even those against the whole "cloud computing" concept still crave the convenience and flexibility of using the online world to work and play.  At this time I would say that the whole concept is still in it technological infancy.

In the end, I don't think we can achieve the heights of useful technology we desire, and keep the privacy we want.  At some point we have to tell all the devices and systems we use information about ourselves, so that they can make our lives easier.  And for every step forward toward the Utopian computer and machine driven life, we will need to let someone know, so that the next couple of steps can be possible.

Guess what?  as humans, the more we communicate, the better we create.  The more we talk about our needs, the greater the chances are that solutions can be found.  With this fundamental fact, we are either looking at a Star Trek style future, or a future where we continue to use systems that are never exactly what we want or need.

So, can we have the technology we want and keep our privacy?   Nuh-uh!  We need to give up a measure of privacy and information to drive technology.  If we don't, we stay stagnant.  And thank you very much, but I like my water clear, even if everyone else can see I'm naked.

Jason Remnant

..if it's broken, why fix it?

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Google App Engine, a better way to further segment the Internet.

In the old days there were large, evil Corporate Software Companies  who would try and run the world and guide consumers computing experience in a way that made them and their programmers truckloads of money.  Then all of a sudden everyone coming out of Uni was a programmer, and we began seeing more and more Software Companies, and new software delivery systems.  Then came a search company who found better ways of getting truckloads of money, and who started to write the book on the whole Internet thing.  They changed attitudes and made large semi-truckloads of money out of all the evil corporate Software Companies.

Not being content with just making the semi-truckloads of money, and being the biggest, and having a cool campus, they are going to hand over to the world the tools to further segment the Internet and the computing world.  And in turn cement their place as "The Almost Evil Empire".

Google have just fired up the Google App Engine, which will start with application servers, database access, and data storage services.  So it's a one-stop shop for the online application developer.  As with most of the Google line-up, it is Beta, so there is likely to be additional languages, other than Python, and servers to come.  The theory is that developers will have a level development platform provided by Google so that they don't need to worry about it.  Leaving more time to make that next social network a whole lot better.

There are a couple of these projects around and all I can do is worry about how this is going to give us lots of Facebook Apps and Twitter clones, and I'm going to be wasting 30% of my time trying them all out, and getting annoyed that "if they would just get together and provide one product with all these features".

I find myself beginning to wonder if building all these software creation tools (Adobe Air, etc) is just going to break up the the already fragmented software industry.  This is a little scary, because for a long time the Evil Corporate Software Companies created and set the standards that we, as the user, could follow.  We are only just beginning to the see the impact of format wars in the Office Suite space.  What is going to happen when there is Office Suite for Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter, and they all have their own format?  Sys-admins will be working around the clock to find compatibility tools just so that that report that started Google Spreadsheet, can be viewed in Numbers  and Excel.

In an effort to avoid all of this, I have shifted to Google Docs  as my main word processor, but have OpenOffice and Microsoft Office to back me up with files from work, family and friends.  I have never been a fan of cloud computing, but in a few ways I guess the idea does make sense, and for what I'm doing, it is working really well.  Maybe this is Google's plan, flood the space with lots of half right options and then everyone will fall back to Google because they have the most mature beta in the space.
  

Jason