Hi Florian,

You really need to look at this. I think it's a possible game changer. Certainly Chrome will put Google in the RiA game and maybe even give JavaScript new life. Slide 11 starts the WebKit discussion, and then moves into the JavaScript Virtual Machine. Fascinating!

~ge~

Quotes:

Google on Google Chrome - comic book

Google Chrome is Google's browser project based on the extraordinary WebKit portable layout engine. Yes, Google has written their own open source browser. The reasons for Google taking this unusual step are very compelling - as this excellent presentation explains.\n\nI also think Chrome will be a game changer. The WebKit engine shows up in Adobe's Apollo RiA and, Apple's SproutCore-Cocoa RiA model. Microsoft of course offers the OOXML-XAML-Silverlight RiA that is based on .NET-WPF proprietary formats, protocols and interfaces. These are RiA efforts can be used as either browser plug-ins or stand alone runtimes.\n\nNow Google has entered the RiA fray with both feet coming down hard on a browser based runtime engine. Google RiA isn't a "Plug-in". It's the browser as both a browser and RiA runtime engine. Very cool. Let the battle begin!

Hi Florian,

I watched this video from David Huynh. Great stuff, but not based on RDF or SPARQL! They use a database, which seems to me to require a tremendous amount of data entry and keyword indexing. The relationships are manually drawn and maintained. Very cool results, but i would think an RDF - docuemnt approach would blow parrallax away. Great browser interface though. And the concept is very exciting if not breakthrough when it comes to search possibilities and expectations.

~ge~

Quotes:

The Future of the Web | Freebase and the Parralax Browser

Excellent review of the Freebase project that includes a video of the Parralax Browser in action. Incredible stuff! Great video\n\nGoogle is essentially a media company - as Tom Foremski succinctly points out here - logging your actions for Ad Word generation like a supermarket rewards card program while leveraging brute force search of the indexed web as you search for your keywords and phrases.\n\nWikipedia is essentially a single destination site, which means lots of laborious single issue searching.\n\nThe semantic web is a vision of information that is understandable by computers, so that they can perform more of the tedious work involved in finding, sharing and combining information on the web.

Hi Florian,

Could you take a look at this? There is a free demo at the bottom of the page. Microsoft acquired Atlassian earlier this year. Thanx,

~ge~

Quotes:

Atlassian Confluence Connects with Office, MOSS

Atlassian has released the latest version of their Confluence enterprise wiki software, officially releasing their SharePoint Connector and a new Connector that will make many MS Office and Open Office users happy.

Cross post: http://pseudosavant.com/blog/2008/07/08/a-proprietary-web-blame-the-w3c/

PsuedoSavant

Response to marbux comments.

The IOWA Comes vs. Microsoft antitrust suit evidence is now publicly available. This ZDNet Talkback posts an extraordinary eMail from Bill Gates concerning the need to control MSOffice formats and protocols as Microsoft pushes onto the Web.


The key point is that Chairman Bill understands that the real threat to Microsoft is that of Open Web formats and protocols outside of Microsoft's control. It's 1998, and the effort to "embrace and eXtend" W3C HTML, XHTML, SVG and CSS isn't working well. The good Chairman notifies the troops that MSOffice must come up with another plan.


Interestingly, it's not until 2001, when OpenOffice releases an XML encoding of the OpenOffice/StarOffice imbr that Microsoft finally sees a solution! (imbr = in-memory-binary-representation)


The MSOffice crew immediately sets to work creating a similar XML encoding of the MSOffice binary (imbr) dump. The first result is released in the MSOffice 2003 beta as "WordprocessingML and SpreadsheetML".


XML was designed as a structured language for creating specific structured languages. OpenOffice saw the potential of using XML to create an OpenOffice specific XML language. MSOffice seized the innovation and the rest is history. Problem solved!

So what was the "problem" the good Chairman identified in this secret eMail? It's that the Web is the future, and Microsoft needed to find a way of leveraging their existing desktop document "editor" monopoly share into owning and controlling the Web formats produced by Microsoft applications. MSOffice OOXML is the result.


ISO approval of MSOffice OOXML is beyond important to Microsoft. It establishes MSOffice "editors" as standards compliant. It also establishes the application, platform and vendor specific MSOffice OOXML as an international "open" standard.


Many will ask why this isn't a case of Microsoft actually opening up the MSOffice formats in compliance with government antitrust demands. It is "compliance", but not in the sense of what the world expects and needs. It's compliance with what the world demanded back in 1995: full documentation of the application specific MSOffice binary (and xml encoded) format representation.


The thing is, the web is the future. What matters is the conversion of MSOffice OOXML to a web ready format.


In December of 2007, when much of the world was focused on the 1995 battle between OpenOffice ODF and MSOffice OOXML at ISO, Microsoft released the MSOffice 2007 SDK beta. In this beta was a nifty two way conversion component for converting OOXML <> XAML "fixed/flow".


Uh Oh.


XAML is the "Web ready" format aspect of the entirely proprietary Windows Presentation Foundation layer (WPF). XAML joins Silverlight, XPS, Smart Tags and LINQ as core components of WPF.


These core components can be seen as proprietary alternatives to Open Web and Adobe standards such as the W3C's XHTML, CSS, SVG, XForms, CDF, RDF, RDFa, SPARQL, Mozilla's XUL, JavaScript, and Adobe's Flash, Flex, AIR, PDF and ePUB.


And there you go. The IE 8.0 beta limits support to HTML-5 bits and CSS 2.1. Forget about JavaScript, SVG, RDF, and XHTML.


What i see here is that Microsoft is preparing a complete Web-Stack of business oriented applications and services capable of speaking both "low level" Web and "high level" WPF (XAML-Silverlight).


Look at the connection between MSOffice and the Exchange/SharePoint/SQL Server Web-Stack. It's filled with proprietary protocols and format conversions. Microsoft owns the "client" in client/server. The OBA (Office Business Architecture) binds many a client/server business process and more than a few workgroup-workflow activities. It was the OBA phenomenon that stopped ODF in Massachusetts! Stopped it so cold that the phrase "ODF is impossible to implement" found it's way into the general lexicon.


So imagine that the world is really thirsting to migrate these client/server business processes to the newly emerging model known as client/Web-Stack/server. Microsoft has been busy putting in the pieces to facilitate this, but, as the 1998 eMail reads, seeks to control the transition. They needed their own "web ready" formats and protocols; including the collaboration protocols!


They also needed a Web-Stack capable of speaking both Open Web and MS Web.


My feeling is that ISO approval of MSOffice OOXML was the final piece to the MS puzzle. It solved the antitrust problem while protecting the proprietary WPF alternative to Open Web formats and protocols. In the aftermath of ISO approval, Live-Mesh and Silverlight development efforts were thrown into high gear. The Exchange/SharePoint/SQL-S3erver juggernaut looks unstoppable. And MSOffice is now an open standards compliant "editor" producing formats that have only one useful future direction; a XAML "fixed/flow" web ready direction.


In light of these developments, it makes sense that Microsoft would comply with as many antitrust related ISO NB concerns as possible. Supporting ODF in MSOffice and joining the OASIS ODF TC are a small price to pay for the opportunity ISO approval of MSOffice-OOXML creates. ODF is not an interoperable format anyway, so data loss on conversion happens to everyone. Who can blame Microsoft for lousy conversions when, after over five years as a member of the OASIS ODF TC, KOffice will have even worse conversion fidelity!


It's important to note that the greatest threat to Microsoft's Web push is that of antitrust. If they can corral antitrust concerns and focus them on 1995 issues, they can push MSOffice client/server to the MS Web without notice. Thus achieving exactly what antitrust was designed to prevent; the leveraging of an existing monopoly into control and dominance of emerging markets.


At the end of the day, Google may well own the "consumer" side of the Web. With Microsoft owning the "business" side of the Web. Such is the power of controlling that transition from client/server to client/Web-Stack/server and the Mesh of SOA, SaaS and Web RIA 3.0 that follows.


Hope this helps,
~ge~

Marbux sets the record straight. These are the facts: Putting Andy Updegrove to Bed (without his supper) .....
http://www.universal-interop-council.org/node/4

A legal dissecting of Microsoft's Patent License for "Microsoft Office 2003 XML Schemas". How open is it? It's a tar pit waiting for unsuspecting developers.

Don't mesh with me on this Microsoft! Just had to say that. At the Web 2.0 demo, Amit used many a catchy phrasing; like "come mesh with us", "mesh on baby!", "mesh it up amigos!", "just mesh'in with you bro". Okay. Bring out the barf bag. This is going to get ugly.