It is interesting to see how software developers are looking at the immediate future of the internet, and in particular how users are likely to want to use the internet.
It's clear from the huge popularity of social networking sites such as facebook, youtube, twitter, flickr and my.opera that people see great advantages in being able to connect with other people through short messages, blogs, photo and video sharing and the like. I think that trend is only going to increase.
But much harder to predict is how people are going to use the increasing opportunities made available through more available and cheaper internet access (fixed line and mobile) as well as more versatile devices such as netbooks and phones.
Opera has responded to this by releasing the "Unite" concept which looks very interesting. This basically allows every computer using opera to become a mini facebook/flickr/etc. server. It sets up a file sharing service with some nice features ("fridge", lounge, web server) with a unique URL which you can share with friends. Files can be open to all visitors, password protected or completely locked off.
It's a pretty good idea although it is only accessible as long as the home computer is turned on and connected to the internet. Security is a bit of a worry as it seems potentially possible for people to be able to access all your files or dump malicious software. It also places a lot of responsibility on ordinary people to work out how to keep their private stuff separate from their public stuff.
It does have the advantage of allowing people to maintain control of their own data and not hand their files over to commercial operators .
A different approach is taken by flock browserwhich tries to make the existing networks more easily used from the browser. Side-bars allow access to friends' statuses in different social networks, and if they have uploaded photos to their facebook page, these can be viewed in a separate media bar without having to visit their page. Web-mail can be accessed more readily without visiting the site. Photos can be uploaded to a number of sites just by dragging icons of the photos from your file manager into a window and pressing "upload". There are blogging tools also. Facebook notifications and chat all happen in the status bar at the bottom of the page, regardless of whether you are on the facebook page.
It's intriguing to see what features different programs are adding to help us connect better.
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