Mozilla Weave - Firefox diventa sociale
Stamattina, durante le mie consuete e ormai sempre più frequenti peregrinazioni su del.icio.us, mi sono imbattuto in questo nuovo progetto della Mozilla.
Ai laboratori Mozilla stanno ricercando un modo per integrare i servizi e i dati che ogni utilizzatore del loro Firefox utilizza o produce con dei web-services che consentano lo scambio trasparente dei dati e la loro portabilità.
«It seems that as the Web continues to evolve and as more of our lives moves online, we could do more to broker even richer online experiences.
We’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. And, in particular, how the blending of the desktop and the Web — through deeper integration of the browser with online services — could further enhance the user experience, increase user control over personal information, and provide new opportunities for developers to build innovative online experiences.»
Il nome del progetto è Weave e promette davvero bene. Lo utilizzerei da subito se fosse già stabile; con tutti i PC che mi ritrovo per le mani mi piacerebbe poter sincronizzare tutte le informazioni in maniera trasparente.
Il modello che stanno seguendo è quello di un framework estendibile come fatto con Firefox e XUL. In pratica ogni programmatore potrebbe usare le API di Weave per esportare dati da un PC ad un altro e garantire un accesso protetto e uno scambio di dati sicuro attraverso un protocollo crittografato.
I punti focali del framework saranno:
- distribuire un set di strumenti e servizi online mantenuti da Mozilla;
- assicurare che sia semplice creare i propri servizi online con degli strumenti “aperti”;
- rendere l’esperienza di condivisione delle informazioni altamente personalizzabile; facendo definire all’utilizzatore anche delle regole di distribuzione delle informazioni (per esempio ai familiari, agli amici, sulle reti sociali, ecc.);
- rispettare la riservatezza dei dati in maniera tale che questi vengano crittati direttamente lato client e consentendo all’utilizzatore di decidere il livello di accesso per i vari servizi;
- influenzare gli standard preesistenti e crearne di nuovi;
- costruire un’architettura estendibile simile a quella di Firefox.
Il funzionamento di Weave si riassume nei seguenti punti:
- i metadati provenienti dal browser vengono inseriti in un substrato atto allo scambio dell’informazione (la nuvoletta nell’immagine);
- questi metadati vengono inviati e gestiti secondo le specifiche dell’utilizzatore con delle semplici API definite dal framework;
- ognuno sarà in grado di estendere le APIs e di creare i propri servizi di scambio.
Gli sviluppatori della Mozilla hanno pensato ai seguenti casi d’uso iniziali:
- Automatic backup and restore - Dan’s hard drive has died. Like many folks, Dan had never gotten around to getting that backup solution he knew he needed. Dan feels miserable when he thinks of all the software he needs to install, the stuff he’s lost, and all the account names and passwords he’ll never remember. Then he realizes that his family photos, email and calendar are all hosted online, as well as all of the services he uses to manage his life: his banking, shopping, purchased music and more. With his replacement computer in hand, he installs Firefox, logs in to his Mozilla account and resumes his online life without skipping a beat.
- Personalization made portable - Myk likes to visit his Mom on weekends. He doesn’t have a laptop, so he uses his mom’s computer when he visits. He used to be annoyed because, though he installed Firefox on his Mom’s PC, he missed having easy access to his favorite sites and RSS feeds, and having to remember all his account names and passwords. He logs into his Mozilla account and his personalized experience returns. And, just as importantly, when he logs out, all of the cookies, bookmarks and other information is cleared from his Mom’s PC so that she doesn’t accidentally log in to his email account or anything else he was browsing.
- Get up and go - Rhian and Chris are going to meet their friends at a hip new restaurant in San Francisco. Rhian goes to the restaurant’s Web site to check out the menu and see where it’s located. Great, the site includes directions. She prints them out, and they hop into Chris’s car and head out. Duh! Rhian realizes she left the print-out at the printer (as usual). She fires up Firefox on her mobile phone. Because her mobile Firefox “knew” about what she had been browsing at her desktop, she only needs to type the first few letters of the restaurant name and she’s back at the Web site. They easily make their way to a great dinner.
- Collaborative bookmarking - Ken and Karen are planning a trip to Calfornia. Ken has found some flights, and is looking into rental cars and trying to put together an itinerary to see Disney Land, SeaWorld, LegoLand and the San Diego Zoo. His wife wants to make sure the various hotels are kid-friendly and pick out some good restaurants. Ken creates a new bookmarks folder for the trip and shares it with Karen. He bookmarks their flight itinerary. As he finds pages for hotels that look good, newspaper articles about local attractions and restaurant reviews, he adds them to this folder. When Karen can grab a few minutes, she can look at the pages Ken has seen and add her own. She can reorganize, annotate, and organize them on a calendar. Ken and Karen can organize a great trip, with less stress. We’re going to Disney Land!
Risorse
[1] Introducing Weave
[2] I principi organizzativi
[3] I casi d’uso
[4] Weave 0.1 for Firefox 3.0b2pre or greater, Windows/Mac/Linux
[5] Il forum di Weave (usano SMF)
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