On Sun, 2010-08-15 at 13:57 +0200, david blanchard wrote: > I've been spending a little time on the following video > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKYqStoeql4&feature=related (it's about > 45mn). > It's about relations between internet and free software, and it's > interesting, though it's in French sorry for that
Yup, it's a shame there is no related English article, because this was a very important conference for the French Free Software community. Basically, Benjamin Bayart compares the current evolution of the Internet to a crappy French "innovation" from the 80's, the "minitel". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel He's saying that there is an increasing tendency to see the Internet as a content provider, pretty much like the way we use TV - some big central operator diffuses content to lots of dumb receptors, which makes the receptors very dependent on the operator. Instead, Internet is intended to be used on an peer/equal basis, where you would be able to host everything that is yours on your own server, in your own house. It's a bit cryptic I know - an example could be Google Docs. It's a good innovation compared to MS Office or OpenOffice - it allows you to access your documents from anywhere in the world. You just need access to a browser and an Internet connexion, and you can view and edit your spreadsheets and documents directly, without keeping multiple versions on different computers and having to synchronize them by sending them by email. However, it comes with a major drawback - you have to store your data on Google, and you don't control the software there. It's not free software, and you don't know what they do with your data (which can be a concern - cf http://bit.ly/aCrwfD ). If we were using Internet the way it was intended, everyone would be able to install a Google Doc-like on his own server, where he really controls the data and the application, like we do with applications on our laptops. Xavier. _______________________________________________ Hackit Bar mailing list - [email protected] Wiki: http://community.hackit.cx/ List: http://community.hackit.cx/ml/ Forum: http://community.hackit.cx/forum/ Ideas: http://community.hackit.cx/ideas/ IRC: irc://irc.freenode.net/#politis
