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Technology Stocks : Web Desktops, Web Applications, Thin Client -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (9)	12/2/1999 2:53:00 PM
From: Jay Lowe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 68

>> but the service providers, themselves Absolutely. Privacy is a key issue, one of several including reliability, interoperability, even ownership. It's a whole new ball game ... with these issues cast into stark contrast to the PC-side desktop ... issue which have been presaged by such things as web-based email, scheduling, and groupware. Key encryption would seem to be a requirement, eh? >> the processing power, and the amount of storage required >> along with backup administration of same >> to provide comparable services on the desktop >> receiving upgrades which were near free from hassle Hoo-rah! Here we clearly see the confluence of opposing dynamics, yes? The thin-client model offers a subset of advantages ... the fat-client model offers another subset of advantages ... some intersection, some non-intersection. I do not see these models in conflict ... I see the dynamic tensions between them driving evolution over the next 2-5 years ... toward a new model of PC software ... wherein distributed processing reaches new levels of sophistication and feature-fullness. I see the idea of "user profile" being quite intrinsic here ... perhaps the default out-of-box-experience is very thin on the client side ... and becomes fatter on the client side in response to user behavior and stated preferences. Perhaps this is where the money will be made ... in the differentiation of service quality to respond to levels of user demand. I.e., grandma gets very thin client-side for free ... you and I pay $60 a month for really fast, secure, reliable service ... and end up wishing we had just stayed with Office 95. ;-)

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (9)	12/2/1999 5:04:00 PM
From: Reginald Middleton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 68

<My concern wouldn't be limited to other users, but the service providers, themselves. Many have a problem with this, or by others who would invoke authority to do surveillance such as law enforcement, even if it's only 'packet headers,' never mind data, itself. It's a real concern that I believe will become more widespread, especially by enterprises whose employees telecommute, as the awareness of accounts of privacy intrusion escalate over time.> ASPs are not the only entities under the authority of the law. Do you share the same fear with your banking institution, for if served with a Federal subpeona, they must produce. I have found that many people fail to realize that a hossted app service is similar to any other service industry such as banking. <I like the idea of key encryption between the user and their own virtual partition on the SP's server. Give me that, and I'm a customer... almost:> Can I assume that you are almost a customer of NuoMedia.com? I don't think key encryption in the fashion that you describe will be big, at least in terms of Yahoo big. The amount of computational resources would be tremendous. Many e-tailers cannot handle SSL for financial transactions when things get busy, imagine the case for every file saved, opened, modified and spell checked for a population of 40 million users if which 1-3 million would probably be simultaneous.

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (9)	12/3/1999 8:03:00 PM
From: PJ Strifas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 68

Hello Folks! Interesting thread here and a very timely topic! Perhaps the problem of escalating hardware requirements is merely an illusion of our current vision of how the client/server model works. For instance, we tend to believe in one server/one client OR one server/many clients scenario. In some cases, we understand there's more involved than meets the eye but it's never brought to the forefront. What happens when we cluster servers (and services)? Load balancing, fault tolerance are very important factors in a successful implementation of web-based applications. By deflecting the rising "demands" on a "host server" we can manipulate the capabilities of our "hosted web applications". Another point of debate is caching. If currently we can cache web content in distributed format, what's to stop us from using a similar technology for user data? I can see ISPs offering "hosting" services for user data that can be replicated through a network (or network of networks). This would lessen the impact of stressing "the server" and performance over unreliable connections (QoS). IMHO, Application Service Providers are only looking at one half of the equation :) [Any VC types around?] Next idea - this entire exercise wholly depends on a fully functional and flexible DIRECTORY service. The Directory can empower individuals and groups with the ability to assign privledges for sharing, encrypting and accessing data. With a full service Directory, we can create and manage "relationships" not only with data but between users, groups and communities. There's much to think about here and what I find myself doing is thinking in terms of here and now. My only fault with that is that I'm forgetting that tomorrow will not be like today so I need to think differently :) Now, finding the time and money to chase after these ideas is a whole other matter :) Peter J Strifas