Looking at how my boyfriend reacts to it, it is.

Microsoft, Mac, Linux clients: check.
Android, iOS, Maemo clients: check.

Mostly a backup solution so probably cronned; but apparently somethign called "sync", too, which may be as-you-save. No Symbian client, which is a shame, but might indeed be worth looking at. What I'm really looking for, per the article, is a diy setup, though. Hell, I might even pay a modest license to have their repository running on my own server. Yes, I also run my own weave for firefox synching and stuff like that :-)

The "Easy, eh" was sarcasm :-)

I'm well aware of the complexity. Csync2 works very well for bidirectional sync, but is cron-based and only exists for Linux afaik. Tying it in to inotify shouldn't be exceedingly hard; but then there's the cross-platform bit. And it should work using a simple installer, so random Joe Luser doesn't have to fuck about with rules files and key exchanges.

Not obvious indeed.

I'm not even thinking about versioning, yet. You might be able to simply handle versioning using a versioning filesystem on the server, though - the old VMS filesystem did that, and I seem to recall that BTR either does it or was planning to do it.

The oceans, yes. The life in them, however, has turned out to be either too sensitive to our pollution or simply too tasty to stand much of a chance.

What I want from a dropbox alternative, is it's most basic of functionalities: transparent multi-client sync.

I want it to both up- AND downsync the files, from multiple clients at once, without anyone having to click things; and based on filesystem triggers, not some lousy cronjob.

Could be done with iNotify + csync2, I guess; although you also need a mechanism for the server to notify the clients that a file has changed. And then you need to build a client for Macs (they have iNotify or something similar too, being BSD), then Windows (no clue what they have) and then various iThings, Android, Symbian and random stuff.

Easy, eh ?

> the avatar DOESN'T have to look exactly like you

For now. Remember how Suckerberg wants you to use your real name? Google's Schmidt commented along the same lines, at some point. Iirc, Blizzard has a similar policy on the forums. Google+ would like you to use your "common" name - not exactly the same, but close enough.

We're still safe, for now; but once it turns into an actual metaverse, how long will it be before the authorities think of the children, say well, if you've nothing to hide... and demand real-you avatars ?

Yes, far-off; out there; extreme and improbably. What if someone told you twenty years ago you'd have a choice between porn scanners and sexual harassment if you want to fly? Slippery slope, and all that.

And, honestly, for most people it still is. It's only been the "social revolution" - facebook and twitter - that has really integrated the internet, and by extension computers, in people's daily lives.

The web is fun, but most people wouldn't have missed it much before facebook. Gaming was nice, but not really a mainstay outside of the hardcores. Spreadsheets and wordprocessors are, for the most, something that smells too much of the office to be much used at home.

The computer has never had a true, neccesary function in people's lives before the social aspect popped up - email being the closest thing. Now that facebook has integrated itself in people's social habits, a computer has become a more convenient way of checking up on your friends than the telephone.

It was probably inevitable; but before that a computer was an expensive piece of metal for light diversions to most people.

While you are right, "natural interfaces" are going somewhere; there's not going to be much of a revolution, more an evolution.

This Kinect toy is funny enough - like the Wiimotes - but it's just a gimmick for some easy party entertainment. Kind of like karaoke, the entertainment value is not in what you're doing, but in getting shitfaced with friends.

Just like there's always someone who thinks their invention is going to replace the mouse and keyboard; so there's always people who think console controllers are going to be replaced. Not very likely, until someone gets brain interfaces right - the current form of controllers is pretty optimal. Maybe small improvements can be made - which is why there's different models from different manufacturers - but the basic shape has evolved over a few generations (remember the original NES controllers, and the old 2600 ones?) to be something that's easy to pick up and comfortable to use; and, like the mouse and the keyboard, any potential contenders will have to be better by more than a bit to have a chance. Waving my arms in front of the telly trying to get Samus to shoot the bloody bastard instead of offering her tits for a spanish tie is not it, amusing though it might be for the spotters.

Just blow it back. He'll not do it twice, especially if you had a good curry the night before.

> These days people kill and die for entirely different deities.

Mostly Mammon, I'd say, with Allah in a distant second place.

Vi vs. Emacs is what happens then.

Host clustering, for one - you make a cluster of host servers, and you can move the guests between them as necessary, in most case with not a single packet lost - yes, that's live migration to another physical machine.

You can even keep a live copy of a running VM in sync on a different physical host, so that even if a physical host crashes, the service can transparantly flip to the copy with everything intact, including in-flight transactions. Pretty impressive, really.

And, of course, capacity expansion is transparant - you add extra hosts to the cluster and redistribute the guests on-the-fly.

Well... to be fair, if "on teh internets" works for patents...

> Over 80% of Americans with insurance are happy with it

Interesting wording. Now, how many Americans *have* insurance?