AJAX application in 2003-2004

As I am making a slide presentation of an application we made for Alcatel Space in 2003-2004, I realize we made an AJAX web application, before the term of "AJAX" was invented.

This is a prototype of a general public skinable web application that can run on either PC or PocketPC web browsers. It allows users to browse the web, listen to musics (AAD and MP3 formats) and radios (streaming), watch films (mp2 and mp4 formats) and receive personnal messages.

The server-side of the application runs on an Alcatel equipment that receives satellite broadcasting data, learns user habits (our application catch user commands), and determines a user profile in order to catch broadecasted data that fits user care. It proposes then thematic channels where all types of data can be merged : browsable web pages, audio and video subjects.

Technically, the web server generates one HTML page (according to user terminal type) that includes Javascript code allowing it to communicate with the server via XML messages. The web page refreshes only parts that need to be refreshed in the page, without reloading the whole page.

A limitation to this prototype was it uses only IE ActiveX functions and Windows Media and Flash plugins. Today, such a prototype would use any AJAX compliant browser. As Opera just released a new version of its browser for mobile that is AJAX compatible, why not make it run on mobiles ?

The Mouse and the Pillow

Q: What is the common denominator between the computer mouse and the bed pillow ?

A: According to a subject developped on "France info" radio this morning, they are the 2 objects we are the most in contact with every day. Of course, this doesn't consider objects we wear (like clothes or jewels). And it only considers the population category that uses computers.

According to the radio, the computer mouse has won against the bed pillow which has been the number one for a long long time. :)

Iterative development

I experienced twice a successful setting up of iterative development in a software project (Eclipse Java projects).

The rule was: the software development team meets the customer every monday (physically or not) in order to set up the week roadmap which defines the actions to perform and functionnalities to realise within the week. Every friday, the project leader validates the developments and publishes a release. The client tests this release the week after and makes remarks that will be discussed during the next monday meeting.

This aspect of the Extreme Programming provides us :

• less management level documents and formal discussion documents as the customer is more implied in the life of the project (big french companies love formal documents for communicating)
  
• less overrun risk as the customer validates the project progression step after step (in term of days spent, final result to obtain)
  
• best results as the customer can react at anytime and decide to change functionnalities while the project is getting along.

This last point sounds like an evidence on big and/or technological projects if we consider that neither a customer nor us can make an optimal requirements evaluation, specifications or design writing, without doing some spadework on the project.

But the second point means the client may accept the contractual requirements may change during the project.

Making contracts on an inclusive basis is in our customers culture (french companies). They believe this is the only way to be sure a subcontractor will do all the job and in a "costs controlled" way. This point of view is not based on reality. In fact, the specifications details (the contract is based on) are often insufficiant. Worse, major functionnalities may be omitted in the contract (and will have to be purshased in addition while some useless functionnalities have been realised).

The iterative development provides a real improvement but is based on trust. A customer will enter this iterative development approach only if he trusts on you and/or he trusts on his ability to manage you in a technical way (meaning he's technically proficient enough to be self-confident).

Is Google the web 2.0 ?

As suggested in the Robert Cringely's article referenced on Bertrand's blog, we can ask ourselves if Google isn't about to become the incontrovertible enter point of the web 2.0:

• it will soon have the first WebOS distribution, providing data storage on virtual drives and bases, web office programs, and of course services powered by their search engines and bases
  
• its would make a web browser that will be the only program required on a computer to do computing via the web 2.0 (as all data and software are hosted on web servers)
  
• it would develop the most super-high bandwidth connections at all peering ISPs so that its services is the "nearest" of you (services with the shortest access time)
  
• it is today the incontroversible search engine so that your existing on the web is quite depending on Google search engine referencement.

This blog as example :

This blog is made thanks to Google blog (Blogger). It takes me 5 minutes to purchase the "dexhian.net" domain and a 20MB remote disk (for 1€/year) with FTP and HTTP service. I bet this blog can be hosted freely by Google on a virtual drive soon (actually, it can be hosted by Google but without letting me manage all files as I do on my virtual disk, and without allowing me to link my domain to my blog).
Into Blogger web application, I set up my blog in few minutes also, so that it publishes my blog (the web pages) onto my remote disk via FTP. I easily chose a template and configured some wanted behaviors.
Blogger offers me the capability for publishing some meta-data about me and my blog. But I can also use Google base service to add more meta-data and structured information linked to it (see Sylvain's article).

Easy, powerfull, fast, reliable... and soon all controlled by Google ?

(At last, don't forget people find my blog using Google search... of course)

The 3rd era of computing today !

I consider we can distinguish 3 era of computing from computer users point of view.

The 1st era of computing started with the birth of the home computer: The computer is used by the general public like a fabulous tool, able to perform text processing, printing, programmable tasks, etc. Because of software, people have to buy and then install them on their computers.

The 2nd era of computing started with the birth of the global network: Internet. This era connects computers together, and the world wide web provides information publishing, information search, on-line services and business arround it. One program is free and can be found on every computer : the web browser.

These days have seen the birth of the WebOS (also called sometimes Web 2.0) that start the 3rd era of computing. Web servers provide personnal data hosting (albums, emails, music, text documents, spreadsheets, files, data bases, ...), online programs dealing with this data (text processing, spreadsheet application, emails and blogs applications, musics and albums managers, etc.), and services. All is accessible from a simple web browser freely available on each computer. The personal computer gradualy disapears from homes and is replaced by less intelligent home devices like TVs that allows people to browse the web and access all personnal data, programs and services. No more need for buying or installing software. Only buying services (all services are free for basic functions and only advanced functions are sold).

Is the 3rd era of computing a reality today ? I think so. I'm writing these lines because Google has just opened his new Google base service allowing people to create, store and use personnal data bases on line (cf. Sylvain's article). We already know that Google will open soon his Google disk service, offering people a way to store every kind of files on a personal remote disk hosted by Google (and apply web programs and services on them ?).

Writely, a web text processor, WikiCalc a web spreadsheet application, and JotSpot offer an interesting begining for web office applications.



Could we assemble the first webOS distribution with Google tools and services and office applications like Writely ("Google office" soon ?) ?



An interesting tool is Google desktop search, which is able to insert data localy stored onto your computer into web pages you browse on the net. It makes the link beetwen the web 1.0 and web 2.0 era.

Finally, web browsers like Firefox or the browser it seems Google is actually working on, would be the minimal real eavy software you'd need on a computer, or a TV, video game box, etc., to boot the WebOS.

You can help

One goal for this blog is to enhance my English language. If you read this, you can help me. How ? Just let me know if you jolt while reading some of these lines.

Also, feel free to give some comments to any article of this blog.

Starting blogging

This is like if I had wait for a real big pretext to fall into the blog trend.

Looking closer at it, I have today several (enough) pretexts to begin writing about some random thoughts :

• I definitely decided to enhance my poor English language for a lot of good reasons. I'm french, I reside and work in France. My job doesn't let me practice neither speak nor write English, even if I read english every day.
  

• Lot of events happen these days that confirm a new computing era is here. Most of people don't know their relationship with computing will change very soon. This blog will talk more about that. En attendant, here's some key words : Google, semantic web, webOS.

I began a weblog 3 years ago, when blogging was at its first stage. Because my work deals with web software technologies, I saw the birth of these technologies and the growth of the blog trend. At that time, I didn't have enough time to write, and also not enough desire to write down the virtual paper. Today is different : I haven't more time but the urge is here.

Dexhian doesn't seem to want to wait more ! C'est parti.