Future of the Desktop
Over lunch, panelists talked about how the metaphors of the desktop will change as the things people do online change. Here’s some of what they said:
Tom Ngo, NextPage
Lili Cheng, Microsoft
Gary Bennitt, Goowy
Chris Thomas, Intel
Kevin Lynch, Adobe
Q: What is the one thing that needs to change about the operating system or desktop metaphor.
NextPage: We come at the topic from the perspective of a company selling enterprise software. As you reel out control to end users, you see an explosion of productivity. In the enterprise, the infrastructure is not set up for the distributed world we live in.
Microsoft: Working on social computing – sharing and synching information – you discover new things that make the experience come alive. The OS needs to support sharing and synching, so you can do a better job of managing your life.
Goowy: With data being available everywhere, you’ll see an evolution in the way devices access the same data in different places.
Intel: The next generation of solutions are going to be assembled from multiple components, devices and vendors. The OS platform needs to know what the interface is, what type of connection you have, where you are.
Adobe: It will be critical to make the new applications work in ways that are similar to the existing, familiar applications.
Q: Are we getting more decentralized, or will data aggregate?
NextPage: More things are happening locally, with the end user. End users need control of their data.
Adobe: The trend swings back and forth between centralization and decentralization.
Intel: With the advent of a service-oriented architecture, there is a fundamental change.
Microsoft: Do users what to aggregate all of their information? For privacy reasons, they may want to segment, based on the level of integration they want among work, home and hobbies.
Q: Do we limit ourselves by the words we use – user, application, data?
Adobe: When we work on content, applications and communications with customers, they come together in ways we don’t know how to talk about. Web 2.0, mashups, tagging, wikis, microformats are new words to describe the innovations that are happening. We apply tech to solve problems. Those are applications.
Intel: Language can be so abstract as to be meaningless, e.g., solution.
Q: What is the role of the desktop when data is centralized? And what happens to privacy?
Intel: There are things we’re doing on the desktop to help separate data, shield data, and still work in the environment.
Goowy: If you can be assured that your data would be secure and private, you could store it in a central place like goowy.
Microsoft: You want to store your email on servers, for example, so you don’t have to manage it all yourself on your desktop.
NextPage: I physically partition data on my PC to keep confidential information separate and secure.
Q: How do you archive decentralized data, and how much of it needs to be archived?
Intel: You do want to figure out how to archive, and what the legal implications are with the archive service provider.
Microsoft: What you archive depends on what you will you care about in the future (e.g., irreplaceable data, like family photos).
Q: What happens to privacy rights as data moves between platforms, domains, devices, carriers?
Goowy: Data that is private can’t be shared without your permission. If you post a photo and someone else mixes it and redistributes it, you gave up your right to privacy when you shared it.
Intel: You can attach terms of use to data when you share it. For example, layer in copyright and distribution instructions in tag.
Microsoft: We may need new tools to protect privacy rights, as we see the way people use the shared data.
Adobe: It’s freedom vs. security. If you want the freedom to share, you give up some security.
Q: Are we creating new kinds of data banks? Places we feel comfortable storing and moving it around.
Adobe: Banks are too closed of a metaphor for the dynamic of sharing data. This is building walls, windows, doors, keys, locks, who can come in, etc.
NextPage: You can’t copy money. With information, your employer can read your email and anything on your laptop. You can copy data and send out multiple copies.
Q: Is there a conflict of goals between sharing information via the social networking services vs. being anonymous online. If the desktop is your home, and it can be invaded by social software, how can you protect your identity?
Microsoft: Identify will be key in decentralization. People don’t want just one identity for all their interactions. If you centralize, and log in with one identity, you have to put your trust in that one service. In the decentralized world, we have to build trust.
Goowy: If you want your data to stay private, you can trust one institution to store and protect it (like a bank).
Intel: We have to create clear boundaries with the services we subscribe to . There are laws in the physical world for the protection of our rights.
