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Sun once famously said the Network is the Computer. With most of our desktop experience becoming increasingly isolated within the browser this statement is becoming more poignant by the day. Computers are just not that useful without hanging off of some sort of network.

In fact FOSS itself wouldn't have seen the growth it has without the network. Our code is stored there and most of our interaction with others happens, not face to face but over a network. Let's face it we live and breath the Network. 

Why is it then that we leave it up to others to build interesting connections between the Network and us? Or worse, why, when the network is about increasing connections, do we let them isolate us and our data in the browser or an online application? 

One thing I learned from working on D-Bus was that if you build an easy to use, standard communications highway, application will start interacting in interesting ways. This talk aims to look at the successes of D-Bus and show interesting ways we can accomplish similar goals linking the web to the desktop. I will not be pushing any one method but simply generating discussion on how to build applications that can talk to each other over vast distances. I will also touch on the importance of extending the idea of a free flow of software to a free flow of data. 

Some of the applications I will demonstrate:

• Remote dog monitor and training system using an OLPC XO and some embedded electronics
• Upstream/Downstream information sharing and mashing
• Web applications w/ desktop hooks
• Some of our existing applications which hook into the network seamlessly

The desktop will cease to be relevant if we continue to develop in a bubble. If we rely on the network to enhance the development of our software, our software should also rely on the network to enhance the user experience.