[Sigia-l] Persistence

[Ziya Oz]

Olly Wright:

> Maybe I'm being dense, but I don't see the need.

Perhaps if you only think of persistence as being connected. It doesn't have
to be just about being connected. Persistence is/should be also about
time-shifting and being in sync, with respect to local storage, file system,
other apps, peripherals, etc.

For instance, I am currently re-designing a fairly elaborate application
process that can take some time to complete. During that process the user
will likely need to consult his records, maybe other people, upload/download
documents, etc.  I want this process to be interruptible, for all kinds of
UX reasons. This is a classic pattern (not fully solved by server-side or
cookie implementations) that, for instance, Adobe has attempted to solve by
way of PDF forms. Since the solution I'm interested in is web browser based,
a persistence framework would have helped enormously to sync up the
aforementioned interrupted completion process.
 
> I do sometimes wonder if we're chasing the impossible by trying to
> make cross-platform apps that work well on multiple platforms.

No need to wonder: we are. :-)

Of course, Adobe would beg to differ, as their upcoming Apollo platform
essentially layers an OS-agnostic platform on multiple OSes.
 
> This means things like RSS, and Watson ( http://www.karelia.com/
> watson/ ) are the way to go.

Well, not Watson since it's been dead (thanks, Sun) for a couple of years.
But I do share your outlook.

In fact, iPhone+WebKit combo is a shining example of a device-specific great
UI looking for platform agnostic data to connect everywhere. The notion of
"loading apps" is so pre-iPhone. ;-)

----
Ziya

"If I had asked my customers what they wanted,
they would have asked for a faster horse." -- Henry Ford