Comments on: Does it matter where something is?

By: mobile

mobile — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:29:06 +0000

I don�t usually post to blogs but on finding the info here I felt I had to, thanks for the useful information!!

By: sysengr

sysengr — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:04:39 +0000

So this begs the questions, is the data intact, is it still worth anything, because the original inferred “picture of a Challenger R/T in RL”, the answers probably yes. If the original was an input screen to search for registered Challenger R/Ts based on supplied criteria, taking a photo in SL fundamentally changes the functionality (you’re no longer delivering a lookup, you’re delivering a picture of a lookup entry screen). A silly analogy of course, but meant to get the point across – mashups break the generally implied “guarantee” that the original functionality remains intact after the mashup. Not to say that mashups are bad, just that we probably don’t focus enough on the continuity of original intent.

By: Tony Pearson

Tony Pearson — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:10:00 +0000

This comes up often when we explain storage virtualization. The biggest obstacle is that storage admins feel that they need to know physically where data resides. Storage virtualization adds a layer of abstraction, making it less obvious where the data is actually located. To address this, we had to develop a second product that maps virtual to physical, for those who absolutely had to know.

My metaphor is calling someone by phone number. In the days before mobile phones, you had to know where someone was in order to call the home or office phone they were next to. With cell phones, you don’t need to know where they are at, but I heard the #1 first question asked on a mobile phone conversation is “where you at?” and that now mobile phones offer GPS-like locatability for others to see where your friend is before calling him.

By: Darren Shaw

Darren Shaw — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 17:34:04 +0000

Hmmm that’s interesting. There’s also the thing of recording what is real and what is not. Photos have had this for ever, in terms of photographs that have been edited or those that are recording what has happened for real… I’ve no idea what that means in terms of metaverses.

By: Trevor F. Smith

Trevor F. Smith — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:55:38 +0000

Some would argue that getting into Second Life is neither quick nor easy, but that is neither here nor there.

If you’re interested in these questions you might check out PARC’s Speakeasy project which created an abstraction of this sort of recombinant media and then made tools which could chain components together in a dynamic fashion: http://www2.parc.com/csl/projects/speakeasy/