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| Is An Open-Source Desktop Still Relevant? |
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posted by Editor
on Tuesday January 02, @07:01PM
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As 2007 begins, once again the question arises whether this will be the year that Open Source software finally takes off on mass-market desktops. This editorial on InformIT argues that this question is becoming less and less relevant as the importance of traditional desktop computing recedes in favor of mobile computing. As users balance the requirements of network computing and mobile computing, they will become increasingly concerned with managing their "state", i.e. having ubiquitous access to their files and applications. The article shows how several key industry trends may converge to help make stateful mobile computing possible. For example, virtualization could play a critical role in allowing users to migrate their environments between devices, and delivering on the longstanding promise of true object-oriented computing. The Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) will allow XML to be used for real-time communications and sending presence information. The article concludes that Open Source software's lack of licensing restrictions will provide it with some fundamental advantages in stateful mobile computing environments.
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