Take your client-side apps and shove ‘em
NewsI’m really warming up to Google’s idea of how the web should be, and I’m not talking the design or the conent, but moreso the delivery. Instead of using client-side applications–that is, installing a program on your desktop computer–people should be moving into the client-LESS world.
In a client-less world, you don’t need to install an application on your PC…you can use everything web-based. Instead of running Outlook or Thunderbird or–God, shudder–Eudora, you just open a web page to get your email. There’s many, many benefits to using web-based applications, and I’m really coming around to it. There are, however, many disadvantages to this way of thinking as well.
Just like water, electricity, and cell service, the web is becoming another always-on technology for many people. Some people have SmartPhones even to extend that reach (like moi). But it’s relatively easy to get on the web, and in a client-less world, all you need is the internet and a browser to get into your applications. The flip side of this, of course, is that many people don’t have easy access to the internet. My counterpoint to that is that if more services offered web-based (client-less) applications, more people could afford to have the internet available. If individuals have to pay $1000 for a 2.3 GHz dual-core system with Blu-Ray drive because that’s the latest-and-greatest at their Best Buy/Wal-Mar/Buy More/electronics super center, then sure, they probably won’t make the move to get onto the internet. But if they can get by with a smaller system system with nominal specs and without all the whiz-back new-fangled technology–and for a fraction of the cost–then people can afford to get on the internet more. When you have client-less applications, spli-dow, you don’t need the Gigantor 5000 computer any more. Reference the eee PC, netbook, One Laptop Per Chiled, etc. for this side of the argument.
So you have a computer, or even a lower-end computer. To my knowledge, 70-80% of the average computer user (nay, probably more than that), only get on the computer to surf, email, and transfer music & pictures. You don’t need the Gigantor 5000 computer with quad-core CPUs, a Blu-Ray drive with LightScribe and expandable media bay. You don’t need to pay $1000 for it either. You only need the basic computer to launch a web browser for all these features. For email: you have your web-based email application, like Hotmail or Yahoo, and the far superior Gmail (from Google, SHOCK!). For music, you have Amazon MP3, with it’s vastly superior DRM-less music library (and still, only $.99 a tune, SNAP). And for pictures, you have Flick or Snapfish. DONE. No need for Outlook (for email), no need for iTunes (bleeeh), and no need for whatever ghetto application came with your Kodak EZ Share camera. You don’t need to install these clients and piss away your precious CPU resources. Additionally, most applications nowadays aren’t just stand-alone executables…they require installs, and even then, the install isn’t *just* for the application…they will install hooks into your other applications, into your OS (such as annoying system-tray applications). All this crap wastes resources too. The common user doesn’t know how to combat these applications from performing these actions (tip: just try “Custom install” sometimes during setup, that can help a lot!)
On top of all this, if you don’t have client software installed on your PC for these applications, you have a fringe benefit as well as saving money buy not requiring a schwanky computer system: security. If you don’t have client software installed, you don’t have to keep it up-to-date with security patches. Instead. patches or security updates are done by the application provider (!!!!). The flip side to this point is that you open yourself up to greater security risks by keeping your private data on the servers that host the web-based application (such as email or calendar appointments). To this, I say phooey. Truth be told, many web-based application providers provide better security than most brick-and-mortar data storage places. I trust Google with my email more than I would trust the Veterans Affairs office with my SSN, or the local clinic with that faded-ass personal file that they just hang all willy-nilly on the wall outside my office. Plus, your email is already on a shit ton of other servers everywhere else, your credit card info in even more areas, and your personal information is scattered throughout so many countless random locations you would shit yourself if you found out how easy it is to get. This isn’t an excuse for the insecurity of your current data; but rather a statement that starting off with something that is built with security somewhere in the forefront of it’s mind (like Gmail) is a better step than what we did 20 years ago. Also, don’t be a complete fucking moron and use a 5-character password like your dog’s name or your initials. You deserve to have your shit stolen if you’re this idiotic. It’s the 21st century–we’re about to colonize mars–and the most blabbed about crime nowadays on the talky box is identify theft. So get the net: get a good password, stoopid.
Client-less applications have replaced everything on my computer that I once had some piece of crap, system-resource-wasting software for. I used to use Microsoft Outlook for my email, calendar, and contacts. Now I use Gmail for email and contacts. I also use Google Calendar for my calendar application. I use Google Documents for my spreadsheets and document files. I use Google Notebook for the notes I jot down when I’m on the run (thank you, Blackberry!). And all of these client-less applications can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. Shazam. On top of that, if you have a SmartPhone–say, a Blackberry?–you can get that anywhere anywhere. Anywhere. That’s tits, my friend. And that’s the beauty of a client-less world.
Now I could expound upon this conversation by introducing you further into the realm of client-less worlds, by adding in mentions and uses for Google Gears, bookmarklets, and browser extensions, but we’ll save that for another lesson, children. Right now, grab yourself a good browser great browser and start experiencing the client-less lifestyle. You may just learn to love it, like I did.
