The WASTE affair. Once upon a time (1998) I prototyped a P2P system based on two simple ideas:
- A local webserver implemented in a scripting language.
- Browser-based access to local (or remote) apps.
The possibilities inherent in this architecture were, and are, astonishing. Since it was a Web-style system, it was obvious — yet still somehow surprising — that applications could display anywhere. Less obvious was the ease with which I could make data, and even code, replicate. And all that before I implemented the notion of local proxies, which could intercept and act on browser-initiated connections to remote nodes. … [Jon's Radio]