I've seen the future of computing ... and it's not as dramatic as the software manufacturers want us to believe.
A day or two ago I downloaded Internet Explorer 4. Yes, another Web browser, but it's much more than that. When you install IE4 you also are modifying the manner in which your computer's "desktop" functions. The idea behind Internet Explorer 4 -- and Netscape Constellation, which should be released in a few weeks -- is that the Internet should be just another depository of information. You have your hard disk; you have, perhaps, the company LAN; and you have the Internet. Each should be as accessible as the others, and should be accessible in the same way. A Web browser, then, is no longer just a Web browser; it's also a file manager. And a file manager is no longer just a file manager; it's also a Web browser.
How, in practical terms, does this work? Well, let's say you're working in your Web browser, and want to view a text file on your hard disk. Just type c: into the URL address box at the top of the browser, then press Enter. Or you can select a "bookmarked" hard-disk directory from the Favorites menu.
All of a sudden you see the contents of your hard disk. Each icon or filename works like a web-page link; click once on a folder, and you see the contents of the folder. Click once on a file, and that file opens or launches.
OK, the other way around. You're working in Windows Explorer, looking at your hard disk, and you want to see a Web page. You'll find the new Explorer looks remarkably like a Web browser; it has a toolbar with buttons leading to Web pages, and a URL address box. There's also the Favorites menu. So you can select a Web page you've seen before, or enter a URL, or click on a button. And the Web page is displayed in the right panel of Windows Explorer, or perhaps in a separate browser window. Or the Windows Explorer window may magically turn into an Internet Explorer window -- which isn't difficult, because they're so similar.
That's not all. The "desktop," that area of the computer screen that sits "beneath" all your programs, now can carry information retrieved from the Web. Place a little box on the desktop, and provide a Web URL address.
The box now will display information from any Web page you choose, and each time you start your computer, or at a specified interval, that box will be updated to show the latest information. It may be CNN's headlines Web page, weather, sports results, your family Web site, stock quotes, or anything else. You can put as many of these boxes on your desktop as you want, size them to fit, then enlarge the one you want to look at. Or size one to take up most of the desktop, creating a custom size "wallpaper" image of your favorite Web site. Oh, and the desktop icons function a little differently, too. They work more like Web links now: single-click to open a folder or start a program, not double-click.
Then there are the taskbar changes. You can place different toolbars on the taskbar; you can add a URL address box, for instance, so you can open Web pages from the taskbar by typing the URL. Or place your Favorites folder or the Web browser's URL buttons on the taskbar, so you can quickly access links to Web sites that you've visited previously. You could even do the same with your history folder, so you can return to sites you visited yesterday, even if you haven't bookmarked them. Web access is just a click away. Or is it?
The publicists at Microsoft and Netscape want us to believe that these new computer desktops represent a paradigm shift in computing, that the line between our computers and the rest of the world is being blurred. But there are major problems with this system. Here's an example.
Last night I was trying to work with Internet Explorer 4. I had to prepare a presentation I'm giving at the weekend, and wanted to make sure that all the sites I plan to show are still there. But my ISDN line kept dropping. So I tried switching from the ISDN line to another service provider, Sprint Internet Passport. I kept getting busy signals, though. So I tried Internet Express, a Colorado Springs service provider. I got in, but it dropped me a few times. So then I tried CompuServe -- I got in, but it was too slow to get transfer anything. In the end I gave up and watched TV.
For people working on corporate networks with permanent connections to the Internet, the new desktops will be very useful, a nice little tool, though not exactly a paradigm shift (at least, not yet). But most of us use the Internet intermittently from home, using unreliable service providers, and for us there will be no dramatic change in the way we work.
Until Internet access is as reliable the phone or electric service, these fancy new tools are more of a promise than a reality. The Internet is not yet just another depository of information -- it's a depository that's notoriously difficult to get into. The software is way ahead of the hardware, so we're going to have to wait for the promise to be fulfilled.
Peter Kent is the author of 30 books about computing and the Internet. He can be contacted at geek@topfloor.com.