The investment MS put into Facebook and the comments around Facebook turning to an OS got me thinking. This morning I thought that it would be interesting for some people to have internet applications automatically available on bootup. Things like Facebook, Flickr, Google Portal, etc. There would need to be a replacement for the URL, which is sort of like having to dial a number to call someone, instead of just picking their name and messaging them. It would also need to run fast, which would mean precaching as much as possible and thinking ahead by crawling links.
This new browser app doesn't look like a competitor to AiR or Silverlight to me, but Mozilla basically grabbed my idea.
Mozilla Labs is launching a series of experiments to bridge the divide in the user experience between web applications and desktop apps and to explore new usability models as the line between traditional desktop and new web applications continues to blur.
Source: Mozilla Labs Blog » Blog Archive » Prism
Really it's just a matter of hiding the toolbars and junk in the browser, and sticking with the basics. One step closer to my idea of booting up directly into Facebook. You could probably wrap it in a DOS-based browser and drop it on a bootable 5 1/4" floppy with the effect I was thinking of. (remember those?)
Unfortunately, there will also be a few problems to overcome. My favourites have become an enormous garbage pile that I rarely look in. My blog reading list became totally unmanageable really quickly. How is this tool going to handle the 2 billion or so web pages out there? Shortcuts on your desktop for every page? How do I share web pages with other people? What about sites that pretend they are what they aren't?
On the plus side, how long do you think it would take to boot if the only thing you loaded was your video card drivers, a flash ram drive for caching & hosting a bootable browser, and your internet connection?
The world really only needs 5 computers anyway... and a dumb terminal to connect to them.
So why did MSFT's stock go up so much today anyway if my DOS-based Facebook Operating System is already available?
