How's THIS for a wacky idea...?

scott f.scott f.
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Who knows...? Maybe this has been discussed in the past... but the idea just struck me.



Imagine a time in the not-so-distant future... you walk up to ANY Macintosh computer... Log-in... and within moments... there's your desktop and all your stuff... Imagine that the OS is fed "live" to you like a thin-client... but over you ISP (By that time it would be REALLY fast & cheap). When Apple Updates the OS... it happens for EVERYONE immediately... everyone gets a little Dialog box saying that the system has been updated... please reboot at your nearest convenience to take advantage of the update.



Basically... the Mac-OS becomes a subscribable service... you pay a monthly fee... no more buying Updates and upgrades... Apple gets a steady revenue stream...



Sure... I have no details worked-out on HOW this could ever happen or WHY... but I thought it was a nifty idea worth tossing-out there.



< voice of Mike Meyers as Linda Richman >



"Discuss..."

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    I think it's a beautiful, succinct, and well phrased description of Microsoft's dream business model.
  • Reply 2 of 20
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    The wackiest.



    <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
  • Reply 3 of 20
    scott f.scott f. Posts: 276member
    [quote]Originally posted by Kickaha:

    <strong>I think it's a beautiful, succinct, and well phrased description of Microsoft's dream business model.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    EEeeeewww...



    I feel all *dirty* now...



    :eek:
  • Reply 4 of 20
    faeylynfaeylyn Posts: 79member
    That's pretty much what WebTV does - or whatever Microsoft is calling it these days.



    There are (at least) two aspects to this. Where the OS, your programs, and general settings come from (the net) and where your personal data is stored (including any preference files, cookies, etc., used by any of the programs).



    Would you trust your data on some server that you didn't own? I wouldn't. And would you trust Apple or anyone else not to keep pieces of your data on their servers? I wouldn't. I know that's the way things are progressing, especially over at MS. But I don't have to like it. And I'll do everything to avoid it.
  • Reply 5 of 20
    nonsuchnonsuch Posts: 293member
    Yeah, you pretty much described Bill Gates' wet dream there.
  • Reply 6 of 20
    nonsuchnonsuch Posts: 293member
    [quote]Originally posted by Faeylyn:

    <strong>

    There are (at least) two aspects to this. Where the OS, your programs, and general settings come from (the net) and where your personal data is stored </strong><hr></blockquote>



    A Bluetooth-enabled cell phone or iPod, perhaps?
  • Reply 7 of 20
    blue2kdaveblue2kdave Posts: 652member
    I've been puzzling about something, and I want to see if this makes sense to anyone.



    I've been thinking about Rendezvous, and some of its possible implementations. It was mentioned that Apple is working on the other iApps for integration like iTunes is with Rendezvous. So I thought about iMovie first. Somewhere I read about iMovie having the ability to export easily all the files to a streaming server. Up to now, we have placed our movies on our iDisks and Apple has streamed them. But what if Apple was to try off loading some of that load?



    In order to stream or host anything on the internet right now, you must have a static IP. Most of us have connections with some sort of DHCP or IP leasing scheme. There are websites that will host a 'virtual domain' for you by having some software on your machine update the website every time it has a new IP. Not terribly difficult, but not for the average Joe or Jane. Also, unless you set up some sort of port mapping with your router you are limited to just one machine, again not for the average user.



    So now here comes rendezvous with its ability to do dynamic TCP connections, using plain English words. In Jaguar, under your Network control panel, you must enter a network name, and a Rendezvous name. And now you have a networked of named machines inside your LAN, with an Apple router (two-ethernet port Airport base station) controlling the interface with the internet.



    So what if Apple made the ability to track your IP address dynamically part of your .Mac services? You would stream your big files from your own computer at home, on your own bandwidth. iMovie would produce web pages on your iDisk just like the iPhoto app does, with the links pointing to your .Mac account.



    The link would basically say something like



    mediafile/dave@mac.com/daveiMac.



    Apple service would then simply redirect using your home network's name, and the Rendezvous machine names for individual machines on the LAN.





    So what does this have to do with the initial post of the thread? Well what if it wasn't Apple you were linking to, but your own home machine. Apple would just point you in the right direction. That way we could log on from any Mac in the world and have access to our desktop. And all of this would set up incredibly easily for the average user. Just enter your home network name, name each of your computers, get a .Mac account and boom, seamless integration of all your digital life, securely from your own home.



    I hope this makes sense, and would like to hear comments on the feasibility of the idea. If this is stating the obvious to you, then please pardon the duffus.
  • Reply 8 of 20
    kecksykecksy Posts: 1,002member
    Can you say .Net?
  • Reply 9 of 20
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Except that .NET would have *all* the data on MS's servers, period.



    See the original post for a good description.
  • Reply 10 of 20
    blue2kdaveblue2kdave Posts: 652member
    [quote]Originally posted by Kickaha:

    <strong>Except that .NET would have *all* the data on MS's servers, period.



    See the original post for a good description.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Exactly. Central router, not central server.
  • Reply 11 of 20
    bioflavonoidbioflavonoid Posts: 723member
    [quote] I've been puzzling about something, and I want to see if this makes sense to anyone. <hr></blockquote>

    Not a bad idea if I do say so myself.



    And by the way, .NET is as dead as your PC when it crashes....was here...gone...oops...lets start it up again...ok, going good....oops....gone again....aw screw this... I guess that "dead" isnt the word for it, its more like...bearly living. Oh man, what have I done?! O god, come on PC trolls, make my day. I know it's coming LOL...



    [ 08-22-2002: Message edited by: Bioflavonoid ]</p>
  • Reply 12 of 20
    blue2kdaveblue2kdave Posts: 652member
    Oh, and by the way, this might have some implications on a pseudo P2P system. Imagine people forming networks, and sharing all kinds of things directly. We'll all have basically databases of media on our drives, custom made for sharing and searching. If I can serve up my playlists and songs on my LAN with rendezvous, why not over the Internet as well? And that goes for iMovies, documents, pictures, and more. Apple would not be liable for the content because its not on their servers (at least that's my theory, I might be wrong, but isn't their a law about ISPs not being liable for content?)



    Anyway, we could see online communities building up, based on P2P and file sharing.
  • Reply 13 of 20
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    Buy a USB keychain, keep your files with you that way.



  • Reply 14 of 20
    tabootaboo Posts: 128member
    [quote]Originally posted by blue2kdave:

    <strong>Apple would not be liable for the content because its not on their servers (at least that's my theory, I might be wrong, but isn't their a law about ISPs not being liable for content?) </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Hmmm. Well, there may have been some protection before (although I'd guess not much if that whole Yahoo/Nazi thing a couple years back was any indicator), but not anymore (or really soon anyway).....



    <a href="http://www.theregus.com/content/6/26015.html"; target="_blank">listen4ever's downfall</a>



    I know it's not quite the same, but it's an indication of things to come. And very clearly says that enabling P2P is not a good place to be right now.... <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
  • Reply 15 of 20
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    I don't like that idea dude.



    but I do like this one



    heres the model

    you own a tower, a laptop, and a couple of handheld devices.



    take your laptop,or handheld(iPod, iPad,iPhone..whatever)into the same room as the desktop(or lets say...within a 25 foot radius)

    and instantly its on your tower...that is the hd is...via airport, or bluetooth, or gigawire or whatever.

    it should be that simple to network apple computers.
  • Reply 16 of 20
    lorenzlorenz Posts: 7member
    Check out <a href="http://sun.com/sunray/"; target="_blank">http://sun.com/sunray/</a>;
  • Reply 17 of 20
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    We use our Blade 100s pretty much as thin clients. They have a skeleton install of the most commonly used apps, almost everything else is mounted over NFS. Directory services are provided by NIS+. I'd rather control my own directory and file services than have a company like Apple or Microsoft do it for me...
  • Reply 18 of 20
    monsterjaegermonsterjaeger Posts: 49member
    This is basically a user accounting technology. In your LAN (because of speeds) you could do this for years now. Can somebody say "Macintosh Manager"? Netinfo (since the NeXT days...), LDAP?

    Macs can do this... even for Mac OS 9 and X and Windows... Just get a Jaguar Server and you're doing your user accounting with kerberos5, LDAP3, Netinfo, Macintosh manager, etc... you can do this over a long line connection as well. Have your account data somewhere on the planet. If you can bind a Mac OS X machine to your NetInfo server over the internet yu can login from anywhere. It's just a matter of connection speed...

    But I also like to manage my own directory server and shares. I wouldn't trust my company data to anyone outside. You couldn't do the administration anyway. Have you seen the user accounting in large companies or universities? An administrative nightmare, hellova work!

    [Edit: Typos]



    [ 08-22-2002: Message edited by: monsterjaeger ]</p>
  • Reply 19 of 20
    addisonaddison Posts: 1,185member
    Future hardware?
  • Reply 20 of 20
    blue2kdaveblue2kdave Posts: 652member
    Oh, and another thing. Apple says that you will be able to run iCal from Apple or your own server. What if you could run a whole .mac service from your server. Apple could license the technology, and individual groups or individuals could set up their own servers with all of this functionality.

    [quote] You couldn't do the administration anyway. Have you seen the user accounting in large companies or universities? An administrative nightmare, hellova work!

    <hr></blockquote>



    Well, what I am seeing is Apple simply using your .mac account for the admin. They obviously already have a system to handle millions of accounts. And on the home end it would be incredibly easy with Rendezvous.
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