The Web To Go
The number 1 technology prediction for 2008 from BBC News.
Extract from a BBC News Wedsite item originally published 1 January 2008.
One of the biggest drawbacks of web applications is that they can only be used when there is an internet connection.
Although mobile working is becoming increasingly common, ubiquitous connectivity is still a long way off. But there are tools that are beginning to blur the online and offline worlds. Over the last 12 months a number of technologies have emerged that could have a significant impact on the way people use the web.
Search giant Google announced its Gears application whilst Adobe launched Air and Microsoft released Silverlight. All the technologies have the ability to take rich web content and make some of it available offline.
For example Adobe has shown off an Ebay desktop application built using Air that would allow users to do much of the legwork required in setting up auctions offline. The next time the user connects to the internet the listing would be posted to the website.
Silverlight offers the reverse - the ability to build desktop applications and allow them to run in a web browser.
Google Gears does not allow the creation of new applications but does allow web applications to be taken offline. For example, the developers of the free online office package Zoho use Gears to allow users to use their applications in a similar way to a normal desktop office program.
2008 should see more examples of applications built with or using one of the three tools to make a truly seamless computing experience.
On-Communications CEO, Ian Roberts comments:
Web2.0 is going to change everything. Momentum has been building for some time. It has been years since Silicon Valley has invested in traditional software companies, and all the high growth software businesses are delivering their technology in the ‘Software as a Service’ format, not the traditional Client Server Model.
Google, Salesforce and the UK’s Youmanage are leading the world in Web2.0 services. Our own business model supports Web2.0 services as companies need symmetrical broadband and Internet connections to make full use of Web2.0 services. We are almost exclusively a Web2.0 company in terms of our own IT. No desktops, no servers, just high speed wireless Internet access into and within the office via laptops.