August 4, 2008 by foldier
In a recent post Tim O’Reilly writes about an incumbent problem that the open source movement may encounter in a near future: the rise of cloud computing may create a new, proprietary lock-in where users are trapped by services holding their data rather than software installed on their machines.
I can see this problem very well. I think about it every time I hear this nonsense talk about some new sites becoming new platforms for the Internet. New and well established companies play this game: Google, Facebook, Salesforce, Microsoft and all the WebOS startups out there. Their game is to reproduce - in some form or shape - what Microsoft has brilliantly done with Windows and the PC, and Apple with MAC OS.
Most people (but not Tim O’Reilly) do not see that the platform is already there! It’s called the Internet, or - as Tim writes it - The Interoperable Internet.
“Take note: All of the platform as a service plays, from Amazon’s S3 and EC2 and Google’s AppEngine to Salesforce’s force.com — not to mention Facebook’s social networking platform — have a lot more in common with AOL than they do with internet services as we’ve known them over the past decade and a half. Will we have to spend a decade backtracking from centralized approaches? The interoperable internet should be the platform, not any one vendor’s private preserve.” (Tim O’Reilly)
We could not agree more!
And don’t we all know that the AOL approach was not the right one? Don’t we all want a rich open platform where small and big applications can freely coexist and “interoperate”, allowing user’s data to move freely from one point to another?
We – here at foldier – believe the Interoperable Internet is the future. A platform no one owns. Where every user owns his or her data regardless of where it is stored. A platform that offers standard protocols application developers can use to connect the dots.
Use foldier a bit and you will quickly recognize that foldier does not hold any of your data, rather it links to it, organizes it and makes it available to you, wherever it may be. Foldier logically organizes your data; it does not change its physical location. Who cares where the data is as long as you can reach it? foldier lets you create your own version of the Internet, the one with the information you care the most; a central place where you can connect the services that make the most sense to you, not just the services provided by the people holding your data.
Keep following us here and on foldier.com. The vision is taking shape.
Michele Ursino
Tags: foldier, Interoperable Internet, platform, Tim O’Reilly
Posted in data portability, foldier | No Comments »
July 22, 2008 by foldier
In foldier we can set permission for items and folders. These permissions control how links and files can be accessed by other people.
Setting permission to private tells foldier the data item is not to be visible to anyone other than the owner. This remains true even when the item is picked up by a shared folder or public folder.
Setting permission to shareable tells foldier the data item can be accessed by people we explicitly share it with. The item can be shared to other users but will not be visible to the general public even when is picked up by a public (published) folder.
Setting permission to public tells foldier to remove any access restriction to this item. It will be shared to other foldier users and will be visible to everybody else when is discovered by a public folder.
Setting permission to public for a folder means the folder is published and it is available in the Community section of the web site open to everybody. Only public items inside a public folder are visible to the outside world.
Tags: foldier, permission, private, public, publishing, shareable
Posted in foldier | 2 Comments »
May 27, 2008 by foldier
Omnidrive is back and with a new strategy: “All your file together at last”.
Sounds a lot like foldier. So we may officially declare Omnidrive to be our first direct competitor.
This new approach is coming after a difficult period culminated with the web site being down until few days ago.
Some interesting posts about it were posted on Valleywag and on The Inquisitr .
Overall I expected this to happen, and I am sure Omnidrive is just the first. The fact is that what we envision 2 years ago has one of the biggest challenge for the usability of the future Web is now gaining recognition as one of the big opportunity for new companies in the post web 2.0 era.
We will report more on this and other new players as soon as they appear.
Michele
Tags: storage omnidrive
Posted in foldier | No Comments »
May 4, 2008 by foldier
We are attending the Startup Camp today. Will report about this unconference later this week.
Tags: foldier, startup, startup camp, unconference
Posted in Events | 1 Comment »
May 3, 2008 by foldierteam
Because it’s there? No.
Because it makes digital life what it’s supposed to be: easier.
You’re going to use foldier because it’s time you got hold of all the digital fragments flying around your own personal digital galaxy. Instead of you going to the planets, though, foldier brings the planets to you. No rocket ship necessary.
Simply save your digital items to foldier, and the link to them will stay on foldier — while the content stays where it was created.
- Your best contact list is on Facebook? No need to copy the list to foldier — just connect your Facebook account to foldier and you can send your contacts any kind of link. Without invading their privacy.
- Your photos are all on Flickr? Just connect your accounts and you have a virtual photo file.
- Trying to keep up with the latest political developments? Create your own custom RSS feed from all your favorite news sources.
And you can access your content from any PC anywhere.
Watch this space to hear about new features and enhancements. And click here for your invitation to join the foldier beta.
Tags: beta, digital, digital life, foldier
Posted in foldier | No Comments »
