On Monday, September 19, 2011 10:58:30 AM Randall Ross wrote: > A while ago, I wrote a "WeMenu" spec that touched on this theme. Simply > stated: Our desktop should reflect our ethos in an obvious way. Back > when the spec was written, some mighty developers were interested in > starting an implementation, but alas, Unity came along and required a > ton of development effort. Now that we have Unity perhaps it is time to > revisit. > > In short, every OS seems to want to do the same thing (yes, even the > free ones): Once a human has booted up and logged in they are whisked > away to the farthest reaches of the web, or to a "large number company > in Mountain View" to view ads and to shop. This is inconsistent with > connecting with real humans in places where you can actually meet them > and share. (i.e. your neighbourhood, town, city.) > > Here is the start of a new spec: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CommunityLens > > We need to begin to use computer mediation to re-connect real people who > really matter to us. I hope we can breathe new life into this idea and > make it happen. Ubuntu's chance to really differentiate is staring us in > the face. > > Lest one thinks I'm a lone voice in this forest, please check out what > Scott Heiferman Co-Founder & CEO of Meetup has to say on the topic of > building community: http://meetupblog.meetup.com/2011/09/911-us.html > > "Could we use the internet to get off the internet -- and grow local > communities?" We sure can!
This is already a social desktop initiative, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Desktop There's an open protocol for discovery and it does work for finding people near you. We ship a desktop widget for this in Kubuntu, but it's meant to be a cross-platform service. Scott K _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ayatana Post to : ayatana@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ayatana More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
