The Polyglottal Internet

Written by Sam Vaknin


http://www.everymail.com/ The Internet started off as a purely American phenomenon and seemed to perpetuaterepparttar fast-emerging dominance ofrepparttar 119010 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. Andrepparttar 119011 vast majority of net users were residents ofrepparttar 119012 two North-American colossi, chieflyrepparttar 119013 USA.

All this started to change rapidly about two years ago. Early this year,repparttar 119014 number of American users ofrepparttar 119015 Net was surpassed byrepparttar 119016 swelling tide of European and Japanese ones. Non-English web sites are proliferating as well. The advent ofrepparttar 119017 wireless Internet - more widespread outsiderepparttar 119018 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 torepparttar 119019 needs ofrepparttar 119020 casual user who doesn't mindrepparttar 119021 quality ofrepparttar 119022 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 torepparttar 119023 tower of Babel thatrepparttar 119024 Internet is bound to become.

The Seamless Internet

Written by Sam Vaknin


http://www.enfish.com/

The hype over ubiquitous (or pervasive) computing (computers everywhere) has masked a potentially more momentous development. It isrepparttar 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, andrepparttar 119009 Windows operating system handle both "local" documents (resident onrepparttar 119010 user's computer) and web pages smoothly and seamlessly. The transition betweenrepparttar 119011 desktop or laptop interfaces andrepparttar 119012 web is today effortlessly transparent.

The introduction of e-book readers and MP3 players has blurredrepparttar 119013 anachronistic distinction between hardware and software. Common speech reflects this fact. When we say "e-book", we mean bothrepparttar 119014 device andrepparttar 119015 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 torepparttar 119016 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 ofrepparttar 119017 document (e-mail message, text file, video snippet, soundbite) is equally unimportant. The SOURCE ofrepparttar 119018 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 fromrepparttar 119019 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 - butrepparttar 119020 experience is liberating (try their online flash demo). Suddenly, instead of juggling dozens of windows, a single interface providesrepparttar 119021 tortured user (that's I) with access to all his applications: e-mail, contacts, documents,repparttar 119022 company's intranet or network,repparttar 119023 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 torepparttar 119024 changing information needs ofrepparttar 119025 user.

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