Opera "Reinvents the Web" with Unite, Makes Every Computer a Server
Opera has been buzzing up our inboxes lately with rather vague press releases on how it planned to "reinvent the web."
Well, we've just received concrete confirmation of exactly what that means. Their new product, Opera Unite, "turns any computer into both a client and a server, allowing it to interact with and serve content to other computers directly across the Web, without the need for third-party servers."
Opera Unite aims to make hosting and sharing data as simple as navigating around the Internet. It purports to give users greater control of their data while still allowing for easy sharing of files and information between all web-enabled devices. The Unite services are based on open web standards to permit developers to design cutting-edge applications with ease. Opera even claims that creating a full-service application will now be as easy as coding a web page.
Unite is now available in the Opera 10 desktop browser from Opera Labs, and services run directly in the browser. Directions for setup are also available at that page.
Opera Product Analyst, Launrence Eng, writes, "Opera Unite is a unique technology that turns any computer or device running Opera into a Web server. In other words, your computer (running Opera Unite) is truly part of the fabric of the Web, rather than just interacting with it."
The first apps offered by Opera Unite include file sharing, a web server, a social note-posting app, a chat app, photo sharing, and a media player, but Eng states that much grander features and functions are in the works.
"Think of multiplayer games, from simple two-player challenges like Chess up to sprawling RPGs. And Opera Unite is not just about fun. Think about collaborative applications such as spreadsheets, documents or Wikis, which you can work on with friends and colleagues without having to host them on a third-party site such as Google Spreadsheets or installing specialized applications on a dedicated server. You could use reverse Ajax or "COMET" techniques to mean that all the updates are seen on everyone's computers in real time; multiple people could make changes at once, without having to lock people out."
Here are some screenshots of the apps in action; click to see larger versions:
Last and kind of least, here's a rather touchy-feely video from Opera explaining in very simple terms what Unite is supposed to do to web architecture:
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I'm really excited about Opera 10 since the first announcement was made. This Unite thing seems really interesting, although I think that Mozilla will come out with a similar thing as well (connecting the web, a more intuitive web, they're just into this stuff).
Anyway, just as Opera invented tabs 10 years ago, it's very likely that they're inventing Unite now and then someone else will evolve it.
I've also talked about Opera 10 here.
If I use an app such as photo sharing, will non-Opera users be able to access my photo galleries?
Seems everybody is again going to be a one stop shop. With google wave getting introduced to Opera Unite. All the end user will demand is a system which is open enough to allo moving from one site to other. Dont know but are we moving away from the focused trait of Web 2.0 ?
I guess this is the next stage in 'browser as operating system' - i.e. truly adding a lot of the real operating system features into the browser.
I've got some concerns re. security (in that the biggest security problems with ALL operating systems come down to software that can respond to incoming requests) but I'm sure Opera will be taking it as seriously as the OS vendors.
It's also not dissimilar to Tim Berners-Lee's original vision of the web (i.e. as a web, rather than hub-and-spoke system). However, that vision was based around the idea of things having fixed URLs. Even if Unite is using some kind on Dynamic DNS system to ensure a machine has a consistent URL regardless of it's IP address, domestic machines don't (typically) run 24-7 - my laptop is frequently put to sleep.
It will be interesting to see how they handle that (p2p cacheing via the built-in bittorrent layer??)
Echoing JulesLt's comments, what happens when you close the browser or shut down your machine?
This reminds me of ICQ Mirabilis that included a personal web server at one point in the history of the product. Finding sites was accomplished via the ICQ contacts service.
What about the "touchy-feely" video about the browsers that became the middlemen between everyday people like you and me?
So here's another browser vendor trying to become an app platform. What's not mentioned here is the fact that each node is basically adressed via a Opera server as a proxy (to prevent firewall/port issues, see http://bit.ly/uniteDoc). The idea of having coders do apps all in Javascript is similar to Jetpack, Chrome Extensions etc, but instead of a SQLite DB, Opera has a "sandboxed" filesystem. If the UX is improved and they integrate OpenID, they might head up Google Wave on this race for real-time browser apps. For the uptime issue as well as scaling to a big user base, there'll probably be a one-click server deployment option to the likes of AppJet (real servers, programmed in JavaScript). Generally, the trend of browser API fragmentation is probably more of a hindrance than a booster for browsers becoming true operating systems. Unless the apps created here can run at least across all "modern browsers", they won't close up to the friction-less pipelines of an Apple App Store. So who will turn this into a firefox...
It's not good when i use Opera .But i perfer to use IE and Firefox.
I think Picasa can getother with Google Chrome functions .
It works but seems a bit slow at the moment.
Posted by: Boris Gordon
|
June 16, 2009 6:00 AM
Wondering if this is available in Iran? Has possibilites for those guys...
Posted by: Andy Bold
|
June 16, 2009 6:03 AM
@Adam : Yes. People using other browsers can open your Opera Unite link. In that sense it is no diff from a http page.
Thanks @Pallab
Opera on a beautiful name, Art is not slow or very fast
I'm hoping for a better bandwidth in opera 10, also good searches and security , rest of the features are really cool.
Hello
Really awesome post I love opera browser but I felt mozilla is best than opera in my opinion
Thanx
Regards
Salman
www.tips4blogging.co.cc
Hooray for the little guy's. I think this is a fantastic idea. I for one have a reasonable amount of bandwidth and I keep my computer running 24/7. So this will work for me.
I wouldn't host a professional site or anything, but I would host a personal site on something like this.
Kudos Opera, I like your stuff.
Opera seems to be getting better and better. Unfortunately it isn't noticed as much.
This is an excellent solution to hosting my own flash games for my nintendo wii. No bandwidth, storage or file type restrictions. Looks fun too!
I can see a lot of use for this. I don't use my Opera browser very often, but I do like it. This might get me to use it more often.
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Bravo on Jay Cuthrell remembering ICQ-ICQ pages-Mirabilis.
That is the best Old Web reference to this. the other from the old times would be FTP static website gateways or even when you used BBS along with IRC and usenet in old app that used to be around back in 1990-1995
There are others and they can be found in Mozilla and Firefox
you add the P.O.W Addon and mix it with bits of Allpeers, The Coop, Weave and Snowl = Opera Unite
From the Microsoft side there is actually a exact reference for this and that is Social Desktop that works via Embedded Silverlight Element in Windows 7 Explorer and pretty much allows you to do the same thing. you could add bit of Live Mesh if you want it to connect locally with services that you can the use with other people using Live Mesh. The key in all of it would be Windows 7 tech, Silverlight and the Live Framework. you could also add a MS P2P solution and you would not only be able to share and collaborate but would let you distribute it too.
Other examples are if you simply mixed a Yuuuguuu kind of solution with zapr or linkia and you will also get the very same thing.
hell, even the revamp of .Mac with MobileME is also about solving this problem
The problem relies on latency, effective continued connections, security, path managing, routing, upstream bandwith, etc. those are the reasons why few people actively used the old solutions in the 90's and why even Mozilla has not been able to find the sweet spot yet.
Funny enough it is the very problem that always has obsessed Ray Ozzie and why Live Framework(feedsync, livemesh) was created and it is the main cloud connector bridge for desktops and devices via Windows Azure.
Opera Unite is a Private Cloud Connector Manager. it merely being a web server in a browser would be pointless the things is about Opera Software using their browser, opera link and my.opera as a online services gateway.
i also forgot to mention Google version of this that is Google Wave (gServices-gGagets) + Google Chrome (since it pushes Google plugins like Gears, NaCl and ODC as the back end)
The only differences here is that the perspectives are based on desktop/device to cloud or cloud to desktop/device
Microsoft and Opera ironically look to coincide on going with Desktop to Cloud, Mozilla/the yuuuguu/zapr reference would be in a point in between those perspectives and Google and Apple are going at it from a Cloud to Desktop/Devices perspective to it.
Ooops.. i meant O3D not ODC
The problem is that Opera Unite doesn't solve an existing problem: http://www.browserinsider.com/1/opera-unviels-unite
Thanks to this, somebody can build MobileMe kind of services for free. All you need is a cheap Linux machine running in the garage. (Don't forget to build a NAS replication :-))
That is really great!!
Can be Unit a competence for Ubiquity from Firefox?
Unite reminds me of the two p2p architecture models, the "pure" p2p (no central server at all) and the server-guided model. The "pure" model never took off due to connection vulnerability (network easily broken into pieces with key nodes down). And the server guided model became more and more popular.
One thing to note is that there are 1000s of servers (owned by different parties) involved in many p2p applications (Napster, BitTorrent, eMule ...). Some make use of known URL to publish updated list of available servers, others embed "home" servers info in the "seed" of a given resource file ...
Simply put, if Unite based services are to become widespread, they must allow servers (proxies) run by 3rd parties besides Opera's to co-exist in order to form a redundant server network with lots "fixed" nodes and many more dynamic nodes... to make it open. Otherwise, it will die if it's just Opera's solo play.
I'm really excited about Opera 10 since the first announcement was made. This Unite thing seems really interesting, although I think that Mozilla will come out with a similar thing as well (connecting the web, a more intuitive web, they're just into this stuff).
Anyway, just as Opera invented tabs 10 years ago, it's very likely that they're inventing Unite now and then someone else will evolve it.
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Thanks to this, somebody can build MobileMe kind of services for free. All you need is a cheap Linux machine running in the garage شاتات خليجية
I can see a lot of use for this. I don't use my Opera browser very often, but I do like it. This might get me to use it more often.
nice to see that opera is improving, but firefox is still my favorite one
Thanks Admin.
nice to see that opera is improving, but firefox is still my favorite one شات
Thanks to this, somebody can build MobileMe kind of services for free
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