The Disappearing Desktop - It's Real This Time

[David Bovill]

On 13 Nov 2005, at 05:24, Sivakatirswami wrote:

> Actually he was talking about a very much larger framework/standard  
> where Warner Brothers was thinking if they did it that way then  
> "everyone" could talk to their accounting via web services, banks,  
> vendors... etc.... everyone... i.e. the problem wasn't narrow scope  
> but the behemoth octopus syndrome.

Good point though!

The main problem with the web service paradigm is for this sort of  
application area. Noone is very happy trusting sensitive data this  
way. Would you want your financial or medical data going over a web  
service? Even if secured via HTTPS? Would you even want your  
accounting information stored somewhere else? How about your contact  
information and address book?

If the answer is no - that should not stop you taking this seriously.  
Look at application areas where this is not a problem - for us we  
intend to practice open accounting (works for a number of NGO's) -  
for others this would most definitely not work (think Arthur  
Anderson / Accenture).

Also the whole internet payments thing is changing fast. HTTPS is now  
built into RunRev - not many of us are using it yet, but this changes  
when we start thinking web services and payment collection. Digital  
(client side certificates) are coming for free to your desktop soon.

Not all change is bad and hype takes 4-5 years to mature  
( sometimes :) ?