Google Browser Sync, Java DB and SunRays

A great article from David Berlind about the Synchronized Web, Java DB, and Google Browser Sync. I loved his plugs for Java DB :). Hey, Francois, did you know you were “Mr. Java DB?”

I do think it's important to recognize that with Google Browser Sync, your personal information is kept on the Google server. With a JavaDB "Local AJAX" solution, your personal information is kept with you. Depending on what you want, one may be more preferable to the other. If you want to collaborate and do read/write web kind of work, then keeping your data on the server is good. If it's just your data and you want to keep control over it, then keeping it on your own devices I think makes more sense.

At Sun, we use a technology called the SunRay that is conceptually similar to Google Browser Sync, except that it “synchronizes” your entire desktop. It took some getting used to, but I actually really like it. I can plug my Java-enabled key card into any Sun Ray on any campus, and tada!, there is my session, just as I left it.

SunRay is a “thin client” machine – a terminal with a connection to a server and that's it. It's very similar to the old tty terminals, except that it's a real GUI and each user gets their own disk space and settings on the server. This is a favorite for companies with a large set of users using computers – you can upgrade the software centrally and everyone has access to it, and the terminals are cheap both in terms of cost and power consumption. Cote over at RedMonk has a nice article about SunRays and Google Browser Sync. If you want to find out more about SunRays, you can look here and here.