The Polyglottal InternetWritten by Sam Vaknin
http://www.everymail.com/ The Internet started off as a purely American phenomenon and seemed to perpetuate fast-emerging dominance of English language. A negligible minority of web sites were in other languages. Software applications were chauvinistically ill-prepared (and still are) to deal with anything but English. And vast majority of net users were residents of two North-American colossi, chiefly USA. All this started to change rapidly about two years ago. Early this year, number of American users of Net was surpassed by swelling tide of European and Japanese ones. Non-English web sites are proliferating as well. The advent of wireless Internet - more widespread outside USA - is likely to strengthen this unmistakable trend. By 2005, certain analysts expect non-English speakers to make up to 70% of all netizens. This fragmentation of an hitherto unprecedentedly homogeneous market - presents both opportunities and costs. It is much more expensive to market in ten languages than it is in one. Everything - from e-mail to supply chains has to be re-tooled or customized. It is easy to translate text in cyberspace. Various automated, web-based, and free applications (such as Babylon or Travlang) cater to needs of casual user who doesn't mind quality of end-result. Virtually every search engine, portal and directory offers access to these or similar services. But straightforward translation is only one kind of solution to tower of Babel that Internet is bound to become.
| | The Seamless InternetWritten by Sam Vaknin
http://www.enfish.com/The hype over ubiquitous (or pervasive) computing (computers everywhere) has masked a potentially more momentous development. It is convergence of computing devices interfaces with web (or other) content. Years ago - after Bill Gates overcame his misplaced scepticism - Microsoft introduced their "internet-ready" applications. Its word processing software ("Word"), other Office applications, and Windows operating system handle both "local" documents (resident on user's computer) and web pages smoothly and seamlessly. The transition between desktop or laptop interfaces and web is today effortlessly transparent. The introduction of e-book readers and MP3 players has blurred anachronistic distinction between hardware and software. Common speech reflects this fact. When we say "e-book", we mean both device and content we access on it. As technologies such as digital ink and printable integrated circuits mature - hardware and software will have completed their inevitable merger. This erasure of boundaries has led to emergence of knowledge management solutions and personal and shared workspaces. The LOCATION of a document (one's own computer, a colleague's PDA, or a web page) has become irrelevant. The NATURE of document (e-mail message, text file, video snippet, soundbite) is equally unimportant. The SOURCE of document (its extension, which tells us on which software it was created and can be read) is increasingly meaningless. Universal languages (such as Java) allow devices and applications to talk to each other. What matters are accessibility and logical and user-friendly work-flows. Enter Enfish. In its own words, it provides: "...Personalized portal solution linking personal and corporate knowledge with relevant information from Internet, ...live-in desktop environment providing co-branding and customization opportunities on and offline, a unique, private communication channel to users that can be used also for eBusiness solutions, ...Knowledge Management solution that requires no user set-up or configuration." The principle is simple enough - but experience is liberating (try their online flash demo). Suddenly, instead of juggling dozens of windows, a single interface provides tortured user (that's I) with access to all his applications: e-mail, contacts, documents, company's intranet or network, web and OPC's (other people's computers, other networks, other intranets). There is only a single screen and it is dynamically and automatically updated to respond to changing information needs of user.
|
