Tuesday 14 November 2006

Thin desktops

There's an idea about internet service that's been around for a while that hasn't caught on. Basically, internet service providers sell you (as a service) a virtual desktop on their servers. That way your internet connection appears blazingly fast just because all your downloads are direct on the wholesale backbone and all you see is a view of it.

I think people (or geeks at least) will be hesitant to take up offers like that, despite bullet-speed downloads. They know how hard it is to switch service providers, and what happens if you decide to leave? If they want to, they can lock up your (virtual) machine and throw away the key, or "accidentally" lose the file. Probably worse than that is the security threat. Not that I imagine the service providers will take it lightly (at least not after the first lawsuit) but that the big media companies will see it as a goldmine. Every machine is then identified as belonging to a person, rather than today's semi-plausible deniability. Also, they can copy your machine and take it away for examination without ever having to inconvenience you. Big Media would dearly love to embrace this model of internet service, I believe.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - The whole idea seems too problematic for the public.
PPS - That's probably why it hasn't caught on.

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