Opera Unite Review - Part 1
By WillYum. Tuesday, 22. September 2009, 18:35:13
Greetings Usability Fans, Amateurs and Professionals!
I've decided, unwisely for myself*, to spend some time reviewing the new Opera Unite feature being tested and with plans for general release soon. I enjoy Opera and for the amount of work being put into this new feature it was time to give it a go and being the Usability Amateur that I am, I wanted to share my experience.
I'm going to work backwards. The first thing I did with Opera Unite was use it. I did not read about it. I heard from a friend that he had used it and it "basically turned your computer into a server." I think there is great value in this approach because it's likely the way most users will be introduced, via word of mouth.
However, for this series I'd like to start with where I ended, that is reading much more extensively about it. That is reading Opera's stated vision on Opera Unite (OU).
The ultimate description I found is found here: http://labs.opera.com/news/2009/06/16/ written by Dr. Lawrence Eng. To summarize, the Internet is becoming controlled by massive corporations with massive resources to dictate our usage of the World Wide Web (for better or for worse). This is not the original vision of the Internet, which relied on distributed computing to "do work".
Opera Unite aims to get back to the roots of the Internet by providing a platform that Developers may use to allow our computers to act as more than "stupid terminals". Casting off the restrictions imposed upon us by Service Providers who have billions of dollars at their disposal. In other words, the idea here is to give the power back to the individuals and their close "real" friends (as opposed to, say the 800 friends you have on Facebook that you may or may not talk to once every 10 years).
Much in the same way the iPhone revolutionized the mobile phone market as a legitimate and powerful platform, Opera Unite's goal is not to be just a web browser software company but a way for developers to step up and harness the computing power of your computer in meaningful ways.
Now, there is a lot of word semantics involved here but essentially Opera Unite allows you to run programs (Opera calls them"Services" "Applications") within the browser. Right now the programs offered are simple, "File sharing", Photo Galleries, a Chat Room, a posting forum. However, the plan is clear and the implications could be significant.
Besides the examples I mentioned, you could create your own "Web Server", uploading your own HTML. There's an example of a Service that allows you to be your own OpenID Provider. However, as far as I can tell, you could do things like run your own Mail-server or any other program offered on the Internet.
It is a grand plan, like the iPhone, to change the landscape of Internet computing. However, unlike the iPhone, there is a fatal flaw.
*Unwise because I should be job-hunting, this, though satisfying intellectually does not pay for the electricity bill.
I've decided, unwisely for myself*, to spend some time reviewing the new Opera Unite feature being tested and with plans for general release soon. I enjoy Opera and for the amount of work being put into this new feature it was time to give it a go and being the Usability Amateur that I am, I wanted to share my experience.
I'm going to work backwards. The first thing I did with Opera Unite was use it. I did not read about it. I heard from a friend that he had used it and it "basically turned your computer into a server." I think there is great value in this approach because it's likely the way most users will be introduced, via word of mouth.
However, for this series I'd like to start with where I ended, that is reading much more extensively about it. That is reading Opera's stated vision on Opera Unite (OU).
The ultimate description I found is found here: http://labs.opera.com/news/2009/06/16/ written by Dr. Lawrence Eng. To summarize, the Internet is becoming controlled by massive corporations with massive resources to dictate our usage of the World Wide Web (for better or for worse). This is not the original vision of the Internet, which relied on distributed computing to "do work".
Opera Unite aims to get back to the roots of the Internet by providing a platform that Developers may use to allow our computers to act as more than "stupid terminals". Casting off the restrictions imposed upon us by Service Providers who have billions of dollars at their disposal. In other words, the idea here is to give the power back to the individuals and their close "real" friends (as opposed to, say the 800 friends you have on Facebook that you may or may not talk to once every 10 years).
Much in the same way the iPhone revolutionized the mobile phone market as a legitimate and powerful platform, Opera Unite's goal is not to be just a web browser software company but a way for developers to step up and harness the computing power of your computer in meaningful ways.
Now, there is a lot of word semantics involved here but essentially Opera Unite allows you to run programs (Opera calls them
Besides the examples I mentioned, you could create your own "Web Server", uploading your own HTML. There's an example of a Service that allows you to be your own OpenID Provider. However, as far as I can tell, you could do things like run your own Mail-server or any other program offered on the Internet.
It is a grand plan, like the iPhone, to change the landscape of Internet computing. However, unlike the iPhone, there is a fatal flaw.
*Unwise because I should be job-hunting, this, though satisfying intellectually does not pay for the electricity bill.
WIDGETIZE
Anonymous # 25. October 2009, 16:02
Мама