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The_Seamless_Internet
| The Seamless Internet
http://www.enfish.com/
The hype over ubiquitous (or pervasive) computing (computers
everywhere) has masked a potentially more momentous development.
It is the convergence of computing devices interfaces with web
(or other) content. Years ago - after Bill Gates overcame his
misplaced scepticism - Microsoft introduced their
"internet-ready" applications. Its word processing software
("Word"), other Office applications, and the Windows operating
system handle both "local" documents (resident on the user's
computer) and web pages smoothly and seamlessly. The transition
between the desktop or laptop interfaces and the web is today
effortlessly transparent.
The introduction of e-book readers and MP3 players has blurred
the anachronistic distinction between hardware and software.
Common speech reflects this fact. When we say "e-book", we mean
both the device and the content we access on it. As technologies
such as digital ink and printable integrated circuits mature -
hardware and software will have completed their inevitable
merger.
This erasure of boundaries has led to the emergence of knowledge
management solutions and personal and shared workspaces. The
LOCATION of a document (one's own computer, a colleague's PDA,
or a web page) has become irrelevant. The NATURE of the document
(e-mail message, text file, video snippet, soundbite) is equally
unimportant. The SOURCE of the document (its extension, which
tells us on which software it was created and can be read) is
increasingly meaningless. Universal languages (such as Java)
allow devices and applications to talk to each other. What
matters are accessibility and logical and user-friendly
work-flows.
Enter Enfish. In its own words, it provides:
"...Personalized portal solution linking personal and corporate
knowledge with relevant information from the Internet,
...live-in desktop environment providing co-branding and
customization opportunities on and offline, a unique, private
communication channel to users that can be used also for
eBusiness solutions, ...Knowledge Management solution that
requires no user set-up or configuration."
The principle is simple enough - but the experience is
liberating (try their online flash demo). Suddenly, instead of
juggling dozens of windows, a single interface provides the
tortured user (that's I) with access to all his applications:
e-mail, contacts, documents, the company's intranet or network,
the web and OPC's (other people's computers, other networks,
other intranets). There is only a single screen and it is
dynamically and automatically updated to respond to the changing
information needs of the user.
"The power underlying Enfish Onespace is its patented DEX
'engine.' This technology creates a master, cross-referenced
index of the contents of a user's email, documents and Internet
information. The Enfish engine then uses this master index as a
basis to understand what is relevant to a user, and to provide
them with appropriate information. In this manner Enfish
Onespace 'personalizes' the Internet for each user,
automatically connecting relevant information and services from
the Internet with the user's desktop information.
As an example, by clicking on a person or company, Enfish
Onespace automatically assembles a page that brings together
related emails, documents, contact information, appointments,
news and relevant news headlines from the Internet. This is
accomplished without the user working to find and organize this
information. By having everything in one place and in context,
our users are more informed and better prepared to perform tasks
such as handling a phone call or preparing for a business
meeting. This results in ... benefits in productivity and
efficiency."
It is, indeed, addictive. The inevitable advent of transparent
computing (smart houses, smart cards, smart clothes, smart
appliances, wireless Internet) - coupled with the single GUI
(Graphic User Interface) approach can spell revolution in our
habits. Information will be available to us anywhere, through an
identical screen, communicated instantly and accurately from
device to device, from one appliance to another and from one
location to the next as we move. The underlying software and
hardware will become as arcane and mysterious as are the ASCII
and ASSEMBLY languages to the average computer user today. It
will be a real partnership of biological and artificial
intelligence on the move.
About the author:
Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism
Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He is
a columnist for Central Europe Review, United Press
International (UPI) and eBookWeb and the editor of mental health
and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory,
Suite101 and searcheurope.com.
Visit Sam's Web site at http://samvak.tripod.com
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