global directory services

as we get everything on the net, the next phase, and a phase which is very much required is consolidation of information. as with any computer system, we need to now build a layer above the existing services on the net like FB, google et al, which consolidates information.

There are already some services like that appearing, one that i know of consolidated status updates from FB, twitter, orkut et al.

but no one is tackling the basics. One of the basic services required is a universal directory service. In Windows world, Active Directory or AD plays that role.

on web world, there has to be a centralised database, which stores all this information.

implementation will not be that difficult. the Online Directory will basically pull in information from whereever you have an account, so if ur on FB, it pull in info from their. and then provide info to whoevery needs it and is authorised to get it. today for a lot of things Google Accounts is playing that role.

the biggest advantage will be that you need to provide info only once, and edit it only at one place if something changes. the push mechanism of the OD will update it everywhere else.

the challenge is, how to ensure that everyone has just one account. well...do you need to ensure that. but even if their isin't a single account for everyone, but am sure from a 'we wanna catch the paedophiles' point of view, all accounts should have some kinda linking.

anyways, so the OD not only provides information, but is also searchable. So i need to search for a person, go to the OD and know that they exist, and that they are a specialist in hair care adivsories...and their public number is given....

and this service is something free of cost which sits on ur 'interface to a space' desktop, and can be use as one of the default services u can use.

the new Desktop

i always like to keep the desktop of my machines as clean as possible, just because i love the sparse but classy look. but then ur desktop is the one place you keep on coming back to always, its is the always there 'page' and frankly the starting and or return point for almost everything on a machine. think about it, the one shortcut (in addition to Ctrl+C/X/V) everyone knows is Win+D.

so why not use it more...but in a fashion where its is useful.

Think about a real world desktop, one of those maghony study tables, with a thick glass put on top of the table. Under the glass are things like calendars, reminders, important numbers. Over the glass, you continue with your work.

in a device, thats what desktops should be like. an underlying layer over which the UI of every other app runs - Win7 i think. It should be called up with a touch, or a simple voice command.

The desktop should have give views of the most important things you would want, time & calendar of course, news feeds, match scores, and ur most used services...FB for example. So basically a collection of gadgets, which can directly lead to the web page with more detailed information.

Continuing the my vision of future machines...their will be multiple desktops, or as i like calling them 'interfaces to spaces', an office space, a home space, a personal space. as you switch between the 'interfaces' you will get automatically logged into that space, or maybe ur presence will change and you will become active in that space. shifting between the interfaces could be like the Iphone (boring) or like rotating a cube, or a hexagon or something. not only will the interface change, but along with it ur entire machine will change.

now this doesn't go with my vision of being everywhere at the same time, being omnipresent across all the spaces, for that there will be a default screen, which is basically a summary screen. which helps you keep an eye on every space ur in, but in a very read only manner, a very non interactive manner. if u need to go interact, activated urself into that space.

for multi users devices, each face will be for a different users. of course all faces will be just another different type of portal, pulled from the cloud, so once u authenticate and as long as u are continuously authenticated on the device, you will keep on getting your screens.

For office devices, there could be controls such as if you walk into office, u cannot go to the home screens.

thats desktops. from a UI point of view, they should be crisp, info packed, but still sparse, non-intrusive.