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Browser-Based Computing

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

Web browser is said to be the most user friendly and easy-to-use application.

The advent of Web 2.0 gave way to the era of browser-based computing. For the

past 2 years we have seen many online office suites involved and many other Web

apps, which take the regular office work online, providing users the advantage

of working from anywhere and anytime. Though most of the online office suites

are still in their beta and are not as feature rich as MS Office 2007 or other

commercialoffice suites, they have started to make an impact on the market. Some

of them like Google Docs and Microsoft Live offer customized solutions for

enterprises as a service. Thinkfree lets you host the office suite on your

server, which your users can access from anywhere in the world. It's not just

the office suites that are making impact, Web conferencing, online

collaboration, and project management have also gained momentum in the past

years.

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Web OS



Though first Web OS came out way back in 1999, it was in this year that Web

OSes made their impact. Using Web OS, you needn't carry a laptop to access your

data. Also you can create community groups, which allow you to share files with

other community members. The concept of WebOS could also be used in DTH consoles

that come with built-in Web browsers and Internet access facilities. In such a

case, you need not buy a PC for home. You'll have your own OS hosted online,

which you can access using your TV as the monitor. WebOSes also provide

multimedia capabilities and hence allow you to play music, view and share

audio/video files; but for this you will need to upload your files to the Web OS

first, which can be time consuming. The downsides of Web OSes like the need of a

reliable Internet connection to work, and limitations like ability to install

hardware peripherals on them still remain. Another concern for Web OS users has

been security, especially for those who have critical data, which they would

like to access from anywhere. To solve the problem almost all Web OSes have

started providing end-to-end encryption through SSL.

The story so far:
  • Evolution of online office suites gives

    users advantage of accessing their documents from anywhere.
  • Desktops became browser-based with the

    introduction of Web Operating Systems
  • Services like Web-based meetings, shared

    online workspace gained momentum.
  • Adobe launches online photo editing



    service.

Nowadays Webtops are also available as a service, some Web OS vendors only

charge for extra storage space, such as DOD provides 1 GB of free storage space

and charges 2 pence per GB per week. Similarly YouOS is also available as a

service, and you can also host it on your own server with a fee of $2,000 per

year per server with a max of 50 users per server. Another company gOS is

selling PCs installed with customized Linux that runs only Google apps i.e.

Google docs and spreadsheets, Gtalk, calendar, etc. Off course you have to be

online all the time to use all these apps.

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With Jumpcut you can create new

videos online through the browser. You can also upload your videos and do

editing as well as remixing of them

Web-based applications for DR and BCP



As organizations are becoming increasingly concerned about immediate

restoration of data, in case of a disaster, the trend of using Web apps for DR

and BCP is fast catching up. From planning to execution, the whole BCP process

requires contribution from various departments. One such app is BCrevo, which

allows you to create BCP plans through templates and manage schedules and

documentation through a centralized console. In case of a disaster, BCrevo

command center acts as a central gateway, where all emergency response plans and

recovery processes are executed. The app also provides online training to the

new users, through the browser itself. In future we are more likely to see these

kinds of apps which can be in-house as well as outsourced.

A

peek into future
One of the things we are most

likely to see in the near future is most Web Apps coming out of their beta

versions. As they have been running in their beta for too long now, we are

going to see more and more desktop apps becoming browser based. Adobe has

already launched a service which lets you edit photographs online. Similarly

video editing through browser will catch up. A company Jumpcut, recently

acquired by Yahoo, provides basic video editing through browser, and there

are many patents filed for browser-based video editing. In future we will

also see more effective browser-based security apps like Firekeeper which is

an IDS extension for Firefox.

Accessing Web apps offline



To counter the problem that you have to be online to access Web apps,

vendors are coming up with offline access to Web apps. In offline mode all

required files of the app that you are using are stored locally in offline cache

or app cache. As of now it's not clear whether you will get all or some

functionalities of a Web app. Let's say if a Web OS starts providing offline

support, some of its functionalities like instant messaging can't be used in

offline mode. However for things like word processors, emails, etc, it can be

easily used. In these cases, while working, data is stored in local cache and

synchronized with the Web app residing on the server, required tasks like

sending emails which were created in offline mode are performed. All these

processes are transparent to the user, they neither have to manually download

anything, nor worry about uploading data created offline. Firefox has stated

that their next version Firefox 3.0 will provide support for accessing Web apps

online. Google recently introduced Google Gears which is an extension for

browsers, using which developers can create offline support for Web apps. Right

now its beta version is out which is developer-only release. But as soon as

Google Gears' first version is out we might see Google Web apps like Google docs

supporting offline mode. Popular collaboration software Zimbra, which was

recently acquired by Yahoo, has also released the Alpha version of Zimbra

Desktop, which lets you use Zimbra in offline mode.

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