The Disappearing Desktop - It's Real This Time

Geoff Canyon gcanyon at inspiredlogic.com
Wed Nov 16 19:16:58 EST 2005


On Nov 16, 2005, at 3:28 PM, Dan Shafer wrote:

> Not sure I see a connection here, Geoff. If my data's on a server,  
> how I access it seems irrelevant to the question of its availability.

I have all of my phone contacts stored on my computer. Some of them  
aren't on my cell phone (admittedly not many). If my phone contacts  
were stored on a server and I were someplace where I don't have  
access to the internet, I have no access to those contacts to look  
someone up and call them.

That's just one example. I have many things on my computer that I  
want access to whether or not I have network access.

Further, even after universal wireless access, speed can be an issue  
if large files are involved. As Richard pointed out, downloading  
150mb worth of Photoshop each time I want to use it isn't a good idea  
even at 802.11g speeds. Neither is downloading 30 megabytes of  
Revolution stackfiles each time I want to edit them.

For many applications, local storage is completely necessary until  
wireless access is 1. Everywhere 2. Really Fast.

For other applications, local storage is unnecessary.



More information about the use-livecode mailing list