This week NetSpeak discusses the evolution of web browser with special reference to the latest version of the browser Opera.
In the past, a browser was just a client-software that obtains web pages and other resources from a server. However, from being a mere web page displaying tool, modern browsers have evolved into a generic Net tool. Browser-based technologies such as bookmarklets, browser extensions and accelerators have bolstered the power of a modern browser. A browser packed with these features helps netizens do many on-line tasks without ever exiting it.
Though the evolution of browser technology over the past several years has been phenomenal, most developments were incremental or linear in nature. In this regard the latest version of the browser Opera seems to be a little different. In its latest incarnation, Opera has moved beyond the traditional boundaries of a browser. Aside from pulling web pages from a remote server, Opera allows its user to serve resources from her desktop as well.
This means Opera is re-defining the concept of a browser by making it a client and a server. Opera lets you host on-line applications from your desktop that can be accessed by anyone on the web via his/her browser. And the beauty is that one can achieve this with the push of a button.
To get started, install/run Opera (http://www.opera.com/browser/), then access the ‘Unite' option and take an account (free) with the Opera service. Once logged-in to the account, Opera will provide an URL for accessing your computer from outside. This address takes the form: computer-name.your-log-in-name.operaunite.com (example: http://home-windows.jmurali.operaunite.com) here, the computer-name part can be customised.
For instance, if you are using the home computer running Windows, you can choose the computer name as ‘home-windows'.
The advantage here is that if you have more than one system, you can take unique URLs for accessing each of them. And, all such systems can be accessed from a single interface using the link: http://your-username.operaunite.com.
If you wish to share a few files on your desktop with public/friends select the ‘File sharing' application, and choose the folder to be shared. To control the access to a shared resource, you can password protect it too.
Now, along with Windows, if you are running a Linux flavour on the same PC (via a virtual-machine software like ‘Sun VirtualBx'), you can install the Linux version of Opera and start sharing files from this Linux system too. This way you can host two file-sharing streams simultaneously on a single computer.
Collaboration
The significance of Opera Unite is that it empowers the user by providing a more autonomous collaborative infrastructure.
It is common knowledge that the Net offers innumerable tools that facilitate collaborative/sharing tasks. Sharing files, editing documents together by members of a team dispersed across the globe and group brain storming are some of the collaborative tasks performed by us regularly.
Of course, for each of these tasks a plethora of alternative solutions exist. The file-sharing services like e-Snips, Dropbox, Zapr and the like (discussed in the past) are a few of them.
Though these applications serve us quite efficiently, they have some shortcomings as well. An ordinary netizen may not always have the necessary skills or inclination to manage several applications. Lack of autonomy- a user has to depend on a third party application- is another drawback. This means we need a less complex and more independent infrastructure for doing collaborative task. This seems to be the driving force behind Opera Unite.
Several collaborative applications like file sharing, sharable whiteboard, Web server, Math session (http://unite.opera.com/application/622/) and so on are now available. One can find numerous uses of these applications that make opera unite an innovative platform. For instance, if you have taken a few photographs and wish to share them with your family and friends, just load Opera and fire the ‘photo sharing' application — no need to upload the photographs to a remote hosting service. As application building technology is based on open standards(http://dev.opera.com/ articles /view/opera-unite -developer-primer-revisited/), one may find new applications coming up quite regularly.
At present the technology behind the Unite feature may not be complete and one may not find all the applications that useful. But the real significance of Opera Unite is that it heralds a new phase in browser evolution.
Yet another feature of the latest version of Opera (Opera 10.5 beta) is the facility that lets us run opera widgets — small web applications — as independent desktop applications. We will take up this issue in another edition of NetSpeak.
PDF to Word converter
We come across several instances in which we need to convert a PDF file into an editable Word document. Though many commercial programs are available for this purpose, proper free packages are very rare. This context makes the entry of the free service PDFtoWord (http://www.pdftoword.com/) timely. To convert a PDF document with this service, first you need to upload the file to its server and provide your e-mail id. The service converts the uploaded file into a Word document and then sends it back to you as an email attachment.
Another search engine
It seems the Net is being flooded with search engines meant for finding PDF documents, especially e-books in PDF formats. Quite often we come across new search engines of this kind.
In this regard, you may check out Openpdf (http://openpdf.com/), the latest PDF search engine encountered by NetSpeak. Firefox users may find the Openpdf extension (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/46699) quite handy.
The author can be contacted at: jmurali@gmail.com
