From The Register.
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Compaq iPaq runs Apache
By: Tony Smith
Posted: 19/01/2001 at 16:17 GMT
Compaq's iPaq Pocket PC has just become what's possibly the
world's smallest Apache-based Web server.
You think we exaggerate? Not so. Despite various last year's April
Fools' gag that mooted a Palm-based Apache server, this one is
legit.
Endeavors Technology, part of Tadpole Technology, itself
best-known for its Sun Sparc-based notebooks, has ported its Magi
Embedded peer-to-peer software over to Windows CE running on
Compaq's PDA.
Magi is a Gnutella-style file-sharing system designed to hook up any
number of machines across the Internet and other networks to
facilitate collaborative computing. Magi is based around what
Endeavors calls a "thin server", itself derived from Apache, the open
source Web server. Effectively Magi turns any Net connected
machine - from WAP phones to PDAs to Net appliances to PCs -
into a Web server.
The code is available in three strands: Embedded, Enterprise and
Express. The former is aimed at gadgets, while Enterprise hooks up
major systems and workgroups. Express is a freebie version for
desktop PCs - so far it supports Win32 systems, but Linux and
MacOS X clients are on their way. All of them use the same
fundamental transport technology, https running over TCP/IP, so they
can all be used together. And to make it nice and easy to use, it's all
based around an instant messaging-style interface.
Endeavors hopes to make its money selling extra functionality, such
as workflow and workforce management, through proprietary
software sitting on top of the open source core.
With the likes of Microsoft's Farsite project, Gnutella, Aimster and
now Magi on the scene, it should be quickly coming to everyone's
attention that peer-to-peer isn't just about nabbing free copies of
music. Still, that's what many of these tools are going to be used for,
as ad hoc sharing networks. And while suing a company (Napster)
that focuses on sharing music is easy, it's a lot hard to stamp on a
company whose software simply provides scope for such activity.
As we've said before, the sooner the music and movie businesses
get their heads around this idea and evolve new models based on
services rather than products (copyright licenses) the better. ® |
