One Step Closer to 1984
Microsoft’s recent focus (“Microsoft says all data created equal”) on creating a method by which all data could be accessed from anywhere is not a new idea. It started with Java where by the programmes called be called up on request on an as and when required basis. I believe that “class” files are constantly being sent back and forth between the mass of the Internet and the browsers that we use to provide anything from cool, sleek video motion graphics to online computer games.
The concept is not a new one and to this layman, it would seem that having the option to listen to my music anywhere and anytime would be a great convenience. This is one of the benefits that Microsoft espouses. Their vision would see me create a definitive playlist of my own music, and just be logging on to either a computer at work, at home, on my phone or in my car, I can have access to it. Great. So much for the sexy Sony NW-MS9 Walkman I just bought.
But, the article goes on further to say that this could develop to having my files stored on a central server and the necessary application be “rented” on an “as and when required basis”. Thus, my excel file would remain in limbo and so would the MS Excel programme until my supreme command would wake the genie within.
Great? Not so great in my opinion. In this day and age of capitalism, where ownership seems to be the key to most things (and by our nature, coupled with the law of scarcity, we tend to lay claim to things, rightly or wrongly), this is a very bad idea. My ownership of my file is in limbo. While technically, it doesn’t really matter if it is on my computer at home or at Microsoft’s central server, psychologically it does.
My power in the capitalist society rests upon that ownership. In fact, it remains probably one of the last few things that me, as mere citizen, can rightfully create and call my own. It is my thoughts, my creation, and dammit, it is my file. Consider this - those of us who drive cars will know. What are you more happy with? That brand new SLK sitting in your front porch or rather in a storage garage run by Storage PLC? Okay, I know what some of you will say, “It’s an SLK and I want to show it off!”.
Fair point. I would want to too. But, what about this. What would you rather want? Your own VCR or one, when you wanted to watch a film (let’s ignore the fact that it allows you to record programmes on the fly for the sake of somantics) would be delivered to you with your choice of film? I think most would agree that the former rather than the latter appeals. This is in part due to our capitalist nature of valuing ourselves by what we own (not a criticism, just an observation).
But I would like to make two points clear. Firstly, that if a few key applications (e.g. MS-Office) are being housed by a few companies in data warehouses, are we not relinquishing our control? Furthermore, the implication on people’s ability to question that. This ability to question that is the ability for ordinary people to become programmers and understand the complexities of the system. Programmers would no longer work on the fringe or at home or at any other company. The leverage that Microsoft and other companies have to dominate the education process in this field is immense.
This could, and forgive my indulgence into doomsaying, lead to the situation where the knowledge of self-defence and the defence of the state now rests solely with the military and political arm of society, and is no longer the province of the civil authorities and individual spheres of influence. This move could push our new found power as a mass, that power of information, into the control and realm into the corporate sector and into the hands of a few companies. I would caution against this and it is our duty as citizens on the Internet to oppose this from a capitalist point of view.
However, there is one advantage that I do see in all this. The idea of borrowing things we need on a JIT-type basis has been with us since we opened the first community pool of resources, such as a library or communal firepit. We should not ignore that this practice of communisation has made resources and their benefits available to those who otherwise could not afford them. The current model of buying a software programme for use on a 24/7 basis is grossly inefficient. It, although I haven’t gone into the dynamics of this pricing model, justifies its high cost by being available exclusively to its owner. However, the question I have to ask, is how often do we use most of the programmes that we have installed on our computers? In essence, we are paying for our privacy already.
I diverge. The point is that Paul Spencer, aka greaseball student, is more likely to have access to PhotoShop or Frontpage programmes under Microsoft’s vision for the future. Today, discounting pirate copies, the software mentioned would retail at anything from $500 to $1000, which is past the means of most students. Even this area of the website has been outsourced as the I have neither the skill to design the technics of a community or the money to buy the technologies behind one outright. Hence this company exists, and MS’s vision already exists in way (so much for HTML being the great equaliser of inequalities, eh?).
Will our applications be priced along demand? So does that mean that popular programmes such as MS-Office will be readily available to me (living on a budget?) while lesser known programmes, such as Copernic Search Programme, will cost me an arm and a leg? Or will corporate America see fit to price these applications based on their greed rather than market forces?
Great idea, Microsoft. It espouses convenience and practicality. I myself would probably sign up for it. I’m lazy. So is 98.8% of the world’s population. Nor do I question - I don’t care how it works. Thus, I’m already buying into the idea that I am powerless to change my world. And I am. But know this, does Microsoft’s vision help to empower us all or does it help to foster the growing gap between the world’s rich and techno savvy and the poor, techno-illiterate. Before you jump to the “Who cares platform?”, consider that Britain is fast falling through the cracks of being a techno-competent society.
Empower yourself.
N.
