Google I/O kicked off this morning with something unexpected (at least to me). I was hoping for, and expecting, Froyo/TV/Tablet showings, all of which were missing from today’s keynote, replaced by something that I’m calling the future of the web.
HTML5 is leading the way to literally replacing the desktop as we know it. Applications are run, and stored, in a browser. No longer do you need to put in a physical disc, or worry about hard drive space; everything is a part of the cloud. You can edit your photos, watch video and even play games, all from within Chrome, or Firefox, or IE, or whatever your flavor is.
The implications are quite staggering. Not only are you changing how applications are developed, and delivered, you’re changing how people interact with their technology.
If we think about mobile devices, and what the iPhone and Android has done for application developers, just imagine what this HTML 5 solution could bring. You can have an HTML5 game app of Chess that you were playing at home on your PC while it was raining, and the sun suddenly comes out. You decide you want to enjoy the nice weather while it’s there, so you put the game on pause (or tell your friend to hold on) while you grab your smartphone, walk outside, and launch the game on your phones browser and hop right back in from where you left off. Extrapolate this into any number of scenarios.
A consistent, static experience no matter where you are, no matter what you are doing across any device. No more closed gardens, no more having one app on one OS, and one on another. This is truly the open web.
I find it ironic that I watched this video today in which Bill Gates and Steve jobs talk about the future of technology, and how far off Jobs was. Everything is a PC now, just in a different form factor, and this will hold true even more-so in the HTML5 future. A varying number of device designs and iterations, all facilitating this general purpose experience. It’s pretty exciting to potentially have a future where you only need 1 device to carry around, and one device at home to accomplish all of your needs. It’s even more exciting that users will be able to have a consistent and robust experience, wherever they go.
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