There’s a movement underway to transform the way we interact with personal computers. As computers become more automated and more intelligent, consumers are losing access to the software that makes them tick. The emphasis is moving away from computers as a platform and closer to computers as an appliance. What does this mean for end-users, and what does it mean for the future of our digitally dependent society?
(Featured image courtesy of NetBSD and Jeff Rizzo)
As a way to keep myself up-to-date with trends in networking and web design (and as a way to keep myself occupied on really boring days), I run a private server. Many of the services we take for granted – email, online calendars, address books, chat programs, and media streaming to name a few – are provided by companies in exchange for access to the information used within them. In networking terms, this is called the client-server model: the client (your web browser, smartphone, etc.) makes a request to a server, which is run by a service provider such as Google, Apple, or Microsoft.
