Beyond Mobile: Portable

It seems that these days, everyone is trying to corner user data in one way or another - be it selling them eBooks on a proprietary device or being an application Nazi for their platform. There are Google's applications that can be run with an Internet connection, there are different types of office software withsome that have planned obsolescence and planned incompatibilities or that don't.

The hardware is kept largely incompatible, especially in the case of Apple - whether to assure the happiness of a marketing demographic of repeat buyers or to simply assure the retention of a small market share. When it comes to operating systems, different software becomes more used because of the demographics of the people who use the hardware - or simple monopolistic business practices.

All of this is a minefield for users. Sure, many people who read this will have grown up in this minefield and may think it a world of wonders. To an extent, this is true. To a greater extent, it is not.

Think of a world where your data was as portable as you are. Where applications were not so dependent on operating systems and hardware. Where you could walk around with a USB key and install Portable Applications - though unlike the present implementation, the applications would work across different hardware, different operating systems and so forth. Just imagine the peace of mind of being able to trust that a machine would work with your data without cajoling, without problems, without drama.

Stuff that just... works.

This was the promise of the Java programming language. This is why I was so interested in the wxWidgets toolset back in 2003 (when it was called wxWindows - Microsoft frowned...). The idea that applications should be hardware and operating system independent has never really caught on. And it hasn't caught on largely because hardware and operating system manufacturers design incompatibilities into their systems. Why? Revenue.

Let us take a step even further back. Does anyone know why the IBM PC standard had such deep penetration - enough so that the IBM PC design persists to this day and continues to beat the snot out of proprietary hardware (read: Apple) in penetration? Simple: IBM opened up its standard and let anyone manufacture with it. That is why, whether you are running Microsoft Windows or Linux, you are likely reading this on a descendant of the IBM PC/XT/AT. Sure, there are different types of these systems - but for the most part, they are largely compatible. And that makes the world a lot simpler for the vast majority of computer users around the world.

The mobile phone has become the dominant technology used throughout the world, but the applications for computers aren't as compatible with the PCs as we would like. While the iPhone is allegedly nice, its price continues to make a car a more worthwhile investment where I am¹ . And its applications don't run on my PC or vice versa. Why? Well, Apple isn't too interested in making data available outside of its proprietary platforms. Microsoft isn't too interested in assuring compatibility with the Linux platform. But where the social programming happens - open source and Free Software - cross compatibility is almost always done. Why?

Simply put, the motivations are different. The Free Software and Open Source world are about sharing. The proprietary world is not about sharing. The Free Software and Open Source community continue to create applications that are more likely to become hardware and operating system independent than the proprietary corporations out there. If people are writing software to do that and are also using and improving it, there's a depth to sharing that is apparent through commitment. That sharing software and thus data would be so supported without a corporate budget (though sometimes now it is) should be considered, at the least, interesting. It demonstrates that at least some people want to be able to use their applications and data on whatever system they happen to have.

I am one of those people. I want to be able to use my data on my USB key on any device available - without having to spend (read: waste) time learning the peculiarities of hardware and operating system on another machine. I don't want to have to learn a new application because some operating system doesn't run my application or makes my data the digital equivalent of someone tossed off of Ellis Island.

Data needs to be portable. Data needs to be independent of hardware. Data needs to be independent of operating system.

Data needs to be... data. And because of this flawed technology ecosystem that we have, it isn't. There are bright and shiny areas where data is simply data, but these are a minority.

They shouldn't be.

Mobile is a poor substitute for portable. From time to time, someone needs to say that out loud. We need to remind the people so willing to sell us stuff that we want it to work in every aspect of our lives - not just on their operating systems and hardware.

Our technology continues to limit us as individuals and society in this regard simply to assure that companies make money. Make them stop limiting us. Start insisting that there be compatibility, at least with your data. The web has standards to assure this². Hardware standards, operating system standards, application standards and data standards need to assure this as well.

¹$8,000 TT for an iPhone? Seriously? I could get a good used car for that.
²>The same culprits try to eff that up too.