software engineering for internet

A twelve-year-old can build a nice Web application using the tools that came
standard with any Linux or Windows machine. Thus it is worth asking ourselves,
‘‘What is challenging, interesting, and inspiring about Internet-based
applications?’’

There are some easy-to-identify technology-related challenges. For example,
in many situations it would be more convenient to interact with an information
system by talking and listening. You’re in the bathtub reading New Yorker.
You want to know whether there are any early morning appointments on
your calendar that would prevent you from staying in the tub and finishing
an interesting article. You’ve bought a new DVD player. You could read the
manual and master the remote control. But in a dark room, wouldn’t it be
easier if you could simply ask the house or the machine to ‘‘back up thirty
seconds’’? You’re driving in your car and curious to know the population of
Thailand and the country’s size relative to the state of California; voice is your
only option.

There are some easy-to-identify missing features in typical Web-based applications.
For example, shareable and portable sessions. You can use the Internet
to share your photos. You can use the Internet to share your music. You can
use the Internet to share your documents. The one thing that you can’t typically
share on the Internet is your experience of using the Internet. Suppose
that you’re surfing a travel site, planning a trip for yourself and three friends.
Wouldn’t it be nice if your companions could see what you’re looking at,
page-by-page, and speak comments into a shared voice-session?

If everyone has the same brand of computer and special software, this is easy enough. But
shareable sessions ought to be a built-in feature of sites that are usable from
any browser. The same infrastructure could be used to make sessions portable.
You could start browsing on a desktop computer with a big screen and finish
your session in a taxi on a mobile phone.