The Web or Desktop?

That is always one of the first questions I have faced while developing any applications. Its sometimes so hard to get a satisfying answer. Each approach has their own benefits and drawbacks. The reason I am writing this post is after seeing this application being developed at Google summer of code. Nice project, but I don't get it. If you can sync data from Google reader why would you want to start up another application (which is probably not installed) and then sync all that data. This shows the power of internet apps over desktop equivalents. Again, when managin data on your computer comes into question, the best solution is usually a desktop app. Take for example, Amarok for music management. Maybe the next step would be to create hybrid softwares. Making data present on one system "present" at every other system accessible to you. I have my music spread out on various systems (at home, at lab). Sometimes I face the problem that some song (which I am dying to listen) was on the other system. It would be nice to see an app which can "sync" this sort of data. Probably extend it to songs on the internet and all other kind of data. One click to access anything anywhere. This idea has been in my head for a while. If nothing of this sort exists, I shall make one of my own during summer.

GNU and Social Networking

I just finished reading Free as in Freedom, one of my first biographies. It offers a very good outlook on Richard Stallman, without whose efforts many of us won't be where we are today. What interested me most is the way Sam Williams brings the notion of community building aspects of free software even over the software engineering ideas. It got them the best code and best set of minds working on them. Brewing the largest passionate, experienced and brilliant community software ever saw, this collaboration played a tremendously important role in the upliftment of GNU. Even today, the people who understand software best are those who have spent a considerable amount of time playing with GPL'd source code. Social networking has been a part of human culture for ages. One that I can probably think of right now are the melas in India, where people from surrounding villages would gather around creating some sort of market offering ground to socialize and to create revenues for businessmen. Social networking is really important and has been dominating over lives long before Facebook or MySpace.