What is SupraSphere?

Filed under: overview

To put it very simply: SupraSphere is a universal remote for accessing and adding personal data in the cloud. You can host all of your data in one place on one server, access it securely, and share it as you wish. It incorporates multiple message types including threaded IM, bookmarks, email, and rss feeds, as well as a full Mozilla based browser. But, let’s break it down more. Read the rest of this entry »

Google Android, iPhone, and Blackberry

Filed under: Uncategorized

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but not too much has changed in the overall IT landscape. Cloud computing has become such a buzzword that it’s hard to know what it is anymore, and I still have deep reservations about the whole model with respect to privacy, security, and flexibility down the road.

In any case, iPhone 2.0 software and its 3G hardware counterpart have been released. Apple’s AppStore seems to be well executed, but they’re getting some very strong pushback on how controlled and arbitrary the approval process is for apps. It still doesn’t have cut/copy/paste, and I still don’t think the typing is great even if it’s good enough.

Google Android has officially entered the scene with the G1 handset. I don’t like T-Mobile so I probably won’t run one until its released on different hardware and carriers, but it’s a very interesting platform and one that has much more depth than the iPhone. Here’s a great article about where Google might be going with it. It’s a lot like Microsoft’s WinCE strategy, but in theory more open. Microsoft has shown openness in supporting a large ecosystem of hardware manufacturers and across carriers, and time will tell if Google takes it one step further by opening the underlying mobile platform on top of it. They have the first part (openness of the platform), but will need to execute on the second (multiple devices) and the third (multiple carriers), to be seen as offering a significantly different alternative to the other players.

Google’s Chrome browser isn’t that innovative other than its javascript performance, but it could be a very interesting piece of the puzzle when combined with Android. Google Gears, Google Gadgets, seamlessly running between Chrome and Android would be killer. Imagine developing Android apps and deploying seamlessly either to Chrome or Android, especially since Android will support Chrome. It’s a heck of a better proposition than having to create a native Blackberry or iPhone application, and it could be that Google pulls off what Apple was hoping to do in the first place by suggesting that developers target the browser as opposed to the native device itself.

In any case, I found the announcement that VISA will support Android a particularly interesting one. Why could they not have done this for the Blackberry a long time ago? The iPhone seems more like a consumer gadget, so it’s possible that Google will move into the “serious” device category even if it’s questionable if that will include the enterprise.

I am no fan of Exchange, but there’s a lot of inertia there, and as tempted as I am by gMail and Google Apps even for the enterprise, the thought that one day all of my or my company’s email in theory could just disappear randomly, is a total non-starter. At least with on-premises solutions I can know, for certain, that my email is physically somewhere and there is 0% chance that I will lose it all. Having been told by the head of Google’s Enterprise App division that they will never, ever, support appliances or virtual appliances, sticking with the multi-tenant model in every case, I can’t consider them a serious contender in the enterprise.

That leads to the other question about the openness of Android. I will begin to tinker with the SDK soon, and it will be interesting to see how clearly it can be de-coupled from Google’s network and services. It’s not just about concern about privacy and all that, but also a question of whether it’s both a level playing field and an open canvas for anything that I could possibly dream up.

Tech Savvy Satire

Filed under: blogging, economy, mobile

So it’s come to my attention that just about everyone on Twitter and Friend Feed has one thing to talk about anymore. That being the all powerful iPhone 3G edition. Personally, I have no desire to own one as they are just so expensive and it seems it all amounts to eye candy. The killer app for iPhone is…wait, I really don’t want a killer app on my phone thank you, I want to be able to call people and text, and possibly check my email. That is all I ask of a phone. However, in most of today’s tech savvy generation, that just makes me “stuck in the nineties” and obliterates any geek in me.

I am of the opinion that there are very interesting things happening other than the iPhone; things that are getting overlooked. For example, Verizon was in talks to buy out Alltel for $27 billion. That to me is horrifying, seeing as how Alltel services us down here in Hickville, Nowhere USA, where as when I came here on vacation my Verizon phone did not work at all. Verizon seems to be about supplying cities with service but neglects the country bumpkins in little towns all over the US. And with poor tact on the Customer Service end of things, I’m worried as to what is going to happen with my phone service. Will I have to make the switch back to Verizon, or will I have to go with the other mobile carrier in the area: AT&T?

Another interesting thing to me was the analysis of the latest cover of the New Yorker Magazine. Chris Farley, wrote on his blog possibly the best political/satirical wrap up of the cover and of the upcoming election. In part it says:

Rumors are circulated about Obama being a (gasp) Muslim. His middle name is Hussein, he must be related to Saddam Hussein. I think the humor is self explanatory. The New Yorker is mocking, and rightly so, the sheer stupidity of those who believe these rumors, as well as those who spread them maliciously.

I just about fell out of my chair when I read a twitter later on regarding this particular cover:

“The new yorker” is full of [expletive deleted] …. : /”

It just goes to show that some people regardless of their age can write and analyze politics on a level much higher than some of their peers. I have no desire to voice my opinions on politics, but it proves the point that the New Yorker may have done something unwise in releasing this particular cover. Too many will feel that it’s jabbing at Sen. Obama, completely missing the point of the whole article.

Lastly, Microsoft stocks fell last night 6%. Sales rose for them during the last fiscal year, but because many people are slow to adopt Vista (no wonder, I despise it) and Wall Street’s estimates were higher than Microsoft’s actual year end profit, stocks dropped. Sadly I failed to see whether or not their stock dropped on the day they discontinued XP, but in my opinion it seems likely that it would. XP was by far better than Vista, and should I ever need a new computer, I will just go for a Mac, seeing as how it seems like Vista is trying to be a knock-off edition. Perhaps it’s just the Unix lover in me, or maybe I’ve been using Linux far too long, but something about Microsoft going under in the not so distant future makes me smile.

Enterprise 2.0 and Cloud Computing Conference

Filed under: Uncategorized

I attended a very interesting panel discussion yesterday evening called “An Evening in the Cloud” at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference at the Westin on the Waterfront in Boston. It was a sort of conversational panel between vendors of cloud computing platforms (”Cloud Players”), namely Google, SalesForce.com (through Force.com), and Amazon Web Services, and a group of potential buyers (”Cloud Customers”) from several different types of organizations, from both the public and private sectors. The “Cloud Players” each took their turn presenting a compelling argument to the buyers to move their IT infrastructure as much into the cloud as possible, ideally completely. The “Cloud Customers” then had the chance to react by asking the panel questions and bringing up any possible anxieties they might have in embracing this model to such a degree.

One of the main conversation points centered around the analogy to the utility companies and the “power grid”. The idea is that most people don’t produce their own power and for the most part don’t need to, and do better just plugging into the massive national power infrastructure. Another interesting analogy, made by Jeff Keltner, Business Development Manager for Google Apps, relating to the safety and security of data in the cloud, is that driving is much less safe than flying even though it might not feel that that’s what the statistics would show. The sophisticated infrastructure and incredible engineering in the airline industry makes it possible to be much safer than driving, just like SalesForce.com, Google, Amazon and the others have much more secure and powerful IT environments than what the overwhelming majority of businesses can match.

So I guess controlling and maintaining our own private data is like driving cars. :) I don’t know which I would pick if I had to choose only driving my own car or flying in airplanes (neither really, maybe this once it can fly), but overall I think the argument for cloud computing is sound. There is undeniable momentum towards the utility computing model, and the adoption numbers for Google, SalesForce.com, and Amazon as major players in this space is staggering. Despite the fact that they all have different approaches, with Google and SalesForce.com pursuing a multi-tenant model much more than Amazon as far as their cloud platform story, they are all strongly committed to cloud computing and often consume each other’s services either indirectly or through direct partnerships.

As far as the power grid analogy, one of the “Cloud Customers” on the panel, Carolyn Lawson, Chief Information Officer for the California Public Utilities Commission, made a funny quip in her talk about how it might not be the most appropriate and convincing analogy given some of the recent history of California’s power grid. Then, Dr. Richard Mark Soley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Object Management Group, Inc. (OMG®) and Executive Director of the SOA Consortium, mentioned he was actually just starting to his produce power for his own home, and that he saw a lot of momentum in the direction of much more distributed energy infrastructure. In my own recent trip to Haiti, I couldn’t imagine anything except highly distributed solar and/or wind power making much sense in even the remotely near term.

One of the central themes throughout the conversation between the two sides, could be associated with the term Vendor Relationship Management. There was an overarching desire from those consuming cloud computing services, whether individuals or businesses, to have a basic level of control over their own context. Aside from legal issues, of which there are plenty, there were a string of comments related to concern about the leverage that such companies would have over pricing and abrupt changes in privacy policies, especially in the event of acquisitions and leadership changes. One audience commenter brought up the Patriot Act, which the cloud computing vendors freely admitted is causing them some grief in providing services to an international audience.

As part of introducing myself and my company to any participants of the conference who might be reading this blog, I would like to offer my own analogy to help frame the debate that is centered around encryption. First, for some background on our company, we recently released an Open Source web browsing and searching product called SupraBrowser. It’s a browsing, research, and messaging system used by a number of financial services companies in Boston. We use it ourselves daily for our development and other types of collaboration. One of it’s core attributes is that it’s based partly on a distributed security algorithm called the Secure Remote Password Protocol that reduces or eliminates the need for a central trust authority in all communication traffic.

Additionally, we will be launching shortly a distributed web service called dealtac.com. It’s an exclusive social network for deal makers and connectors, which allows users to monitor and mine their email, bookmarks, feeds, and documents for personal connections from their existing business social network of contacts. Users can also collaborate through a real-time messaging system and leave comments about their contacts.

From what I’ve learned through the odyssey of building this company, I think it’s incredibly necessary to provide a personal, private context to individuals in “the cloud”, and that the absence of this core artifact will severely hamper the success of cloud computing regardless of its early adoption. One of my most interesting conversations of the night was one I had with Jeff Keltner from Google. At one point in the earlier debate, when the potential buyers all really started harping on the issue of privacy, Jeff was the first to mention encryption as a practical way to maintain privacy in the cloud. If you encrypt your data before storing it, it remains adequately private for the majority of cases. This is true, as long as you don’t access it while it’s still in the cloud, but I think encryption itself provides the best analogy for why the “multi-tenant” approach can and should only work up to a limited point.

The very fact that encryption can be mentioned by him in the context of being a raw, foundational element to build privacy and trust upon, actually proves my point. If the US (or any other) government demanded the inclusion of a “skeleton key” for all encryption protocols and programs that only they had full access to, not only would the security be much, much weaker, but also people wouldn’t trust it nearly to the same degree. Even if a government or other central body employed the vast majority of cryptologists and mathematicians in the world, people would still trust a transparently developed algorithm with no known backdoors and known ways to cheat the math more than a closed algorithm. The fact that Google has “root access” to it’s users’ data is the equivalent of maintaining root access to an encryption algorithm.

All the cloud computing vendors in some way mentioned trust as one of the most important elements in their relationship with their customers and users. So, when Google or another cloud platform company denies the need for a place in the cloud that can contain completely private data with no known way for anyone other than the individual to view it, even in theory, while still having all the positive attributes of cloud computing, i.e. more secure, redundant, accessible, and mobile, it’s quite disingenuous and practically the same as if they provided an encryption “service” with a backdoor for the “governing” operator.

The panel was actually incredibly well run and conceived overall, and it was part of a fascinating and important dialogue going on around cloud computing that ultimately touches on deep issues of trust, governance, self-determination, and even sovereignty. I look forward to continuing to be a part of the dialogue and trying to transcode our own privacy policy into the architecture, algorithms, and software code of our products and services as much as possible.

So, which would you want? To be stuck in “the cloud”, or to see a sky full of clouds? We have presented our version of the sky and have only just begun in our quest for what perhaps might be called “Sky Computing”. Since it’s open like the air, we welcome all breathing collaborators. :)

New BlackBerry Coming Out

Filed under: development, mobile

Here’s an article about a new BlackBerry supposed to be a response to the iPhone:

RIM’s iPhone Killer: Not Terrible! But No iPhone

I suppose AAPL has set the bar in some respects with the iPhone, but it’s far too early to suggest that RIM ought to be thinking of an iPhone killer. RIM knows who their target market is, having been born serving c-level executives and the type of demanding customer in the financial services industry. In fact, if I were to hand an iPhone over to any of the people I know who use their BlackBerry as their primary computing device, it would look like a massive maglev train flying off the tracks.

But I just got off the phone with Furqan Nazeeri, CEO of Virid.us, which has created a community site and exchange for people working to integrate sustainable principles in their normal working lives, where people can share ideas and resources about best practices regarding carbon offset trading, e-waste disposal, and conservation. He made the point that the iPhone, despite having a low total marketshare of the smart phone market, has a massive ~80% of total mobile web traffic. He said probably going to wait to purchase an iPhone until both the 3G support is in place and they provide email push.

I’ll be very interested in hearing about his experience, given my initial less-than-glowing report on my iPhone. I ended up returning mine, and the odds that I’ll try another one are pretty low. I’ll be more likely to wait for the BlackBerry 9000 series, or whatever it’s called.

Given that RIM now fully supports the Eclipse “stack” (BlackBerry Embraces Eclipse), and Google Android is also heavily Eclipse-related, we are much more likely to support that stack than head down the iPhone route. It’s always possible to support both (our web app works on both the BlackBerry and iPhone browsers), but if we were to go native and have to pick one, it would most likely be the more “open” route.

Reaching Another Landmark

Filed under: development, most wanted

So I have fantastic news. And no I’m not talking the Microsoft drops Yahoo thing, but that was stellar in my book. :)

You all probably know that SupraSphere has a desktop client that is really robust and powerful as a web browser in addition to a multilayer communication system. I’ve been involved in testing it for getting close to a year, but in that time a lot has happened. In lieu of my last post, it’s pretty safe to say we’ve reached a huge landmark.

Meanwhile, server side, there has been a new development. Oh I can barely contain myself! The web version is out! What does this mean for us, and more importantly what does this mean for you? On our side, we are involved in heavy testing in a closed beta format. On your side: the wait is almost over!

~Andria

Mapping it All Out

Filed under: development, sphere

I really love traveling, and in fact, I’m in the process of getting ready for a trip in a few days. Aside from packing, I do something for every place I plan to go: Google maps. Sure, I’ll be flying, but I still like to know how far away it is, what destinations are on the road getting there, and on some level, it’s humbling to zoom out and feel really small. Perhaps we can blame it on the satellite imagery. When I was little, I did the same with a road atlas and a highlighter. Now, over the years of wear and tear on that atlas it’s barely legible, but to some extent I can look back at where I’ve been.

When it comes to designing software, it’s good to be able to look back and see where we started from, and look ahead to where we are going. So in this facet, the planning and development stage of software design can be compared to a road trip. Sure, there are road blocks, there are detours, and sometimes, there are faster routes to take. At times, the destination seems so far away, almost unreachable. But, reaching landmarks makes everything worthwhile, and when you pass a few on the road or in development, the end goal becomes that much closer!

SupraSphere is the brainchild of David Thomson, and he started dreaming up a fully unified messaging and communication environment in ‘98 or ‘99. In a figurative sense, let’s put that as our starting off point. Where has the project been since then? Where are we now? And, are we there yet? :)

Programming started in 2001, right after David started collaborating with two friends of his, who both were pursuing a PHD in cryptography; Adam Klivans at MIT and Rocco Servedio other at Harvard. The first usable development version was released in 2002.

December of ‘03 was a monumental landmark, as the first installation took place into a private hedge fund. It is used as trading floor workflow and is a sort of posting board for news items. So anytime a portfolio manager wants to send in a trade into the trading floor, they use SS software to manage it. However, it should be noted that this implementation of SS is quite different than the client that is in development now.

Although it seems an eternity, two years development time could seem like driving through Iowa. SupraSphere continued to progress and evolve. However, another landmark was reached in June of 2006, when Andy Singleton and David started working together and brought the project to Assembla, of which Andy is the president. Development then became that much easier to organize and orchestrate with Assembla’s turn-key project management and development hosting.

That very same month I met a very good friend of David’s who became a mentor to me. in October of 2006, I met David for the first time on a hike up Foss Mountain in New Hampshire, and somehow we ended up talking about software and other computer related ventures. We became fast friends and soon thereafter he showed me a *very* bare bones SupraSphere running on his laptop. I was fascinated by it, and asked him if I could be a part of it somehow.

In April or May of 2007, in my inbox I received an invitation to the desktop client. I installed it, and David and I have been working on SS and Suprablog ever since.

Now, where are we headed after all those milestones and monumental landmarks? I think we are almost there, almost at our desired destination. Won’t you come along for the ride?

Automated “Government” Transactions

Filed under: economy

Most people have some type of experience with automated payments. About ten years or so ago, I remember people starting to talk about direct-deposit of paychecks, and I bet a lot of people get this by now. Many banking and financial services institutions also offer automated bill payment. You can set up your bank account or credit account to pay bills automatically. There are a bunch of “banking 2.0″ companies trying to streamline the process: Making the web into a banking platform.

Another interesting thing happened to me the other day, where I went to send a FedEx package and payed with credit card, and they didn’t ask me to sign. Just like many places (e.g. Starbucks) won’t require you to sign if your purchase is below a certain amount, FedEx also allows you to forgo signing, but for any amount.

What would prevent everything from being automated? Assuming one had enough income coming in, one could setup all services to be paid automatically, and whatever mechanism is used to pay, can be paid by another mechanism. You could walk in to a store, pick something up, and walk out.

The key to this happening is proper notification and threshold management. Credit cards do a pretty good job of notifying people in the case of fraud, but that is only a small part of what is necessary. Strict rules need to be applied as far as setting up automated payments, discontinuing after a certain period of inactivity, and more.

Instead, what we have now is a mishmash of different institutions, each with its own login and policy regarding notification. Why can’t I have a bunch of popups that says “Pay bill?”, and click yes ten times, and be done with it? Then, I can set rules, such as after a certain number of notifications (perhaps after first signing up for a service), it becomes automated, and then just presents the most important ones.

What is strange about this, is that whatever that system is, starts to look like a government entity. However, it’s not particularly clear what form of government (socialism, capitalism, etc.). Someone could lead life subscribing to a bunch of services by different groups and organizations, a “bundle” of public works coordinated by geolocation, and enterprises. Everything beyond basic services would be investment, and it’s just a matter of what kind of investment in what type of enterprise bearing what attributes.

Sharing Documents

Filed under: cloud

By today’s standards, the office is not really where a lot of us work anymore. Work is more a mindset than a location than ever before, and especially in the Information Technology field, where collaboration and working with others takes place. There are amazing tools and programs that we all use to get our jobs done, especially when it comes to documents and spreadsheets. When going through the planning and writing stage, I’ve already highlighted how SupraSphere shines, but there is a wholly different aspect to the sharing and working together that can be achieved.

Much like email, adding an attachment to SupraSphere itself is really simple, and in doing so, you are left with several options after the upload. In compliance with internet standardization, SS automatically converts documents into .pdf format. This is a benefit for users without an office suite, and turns the document into an ultra-portable ‘read-only’ document. This especially closes the door on any malicious code (macros, anyone?) in a document form, continuing our philosophy of being secure.

But, what if what you attached to your sphere is something still in the process of editing? Well, as long as you don’t upload a .pdf, you can keep the original form as well. This then enables several options, opening the document, opening the document for editing, opening as a .pdf, saving it as a .pdf, a ’save as’ option, and a delete option. I really like the ability to open for editing, as it will open the default program installed on my computer (such as Microsoft Word or Open Office), and then I can edit it, and click save. Instead of saving to my hard drive, it saves as a reply attachment to the original on the sphere.

SS is transformed into a portable file cabinet/email/messaging/bookmarking/rss manager-thing. I love it. I’m sure you will too.

Linux and Open Source Development

Filed under: development, open source

So it seems I’m in a bit of a quandry: I write blog posts about SupraSphere, but we need development support. Now, how could I garner support by writing a post?

Well, as most know, I am completely obsessed with Ubuntu Linux. It’s very stable (including the bleeding edge beta for 8.04) and the ease of use is phenomenal. A few days ago I directed quite a number of people to this very blog from the Ubuntu forums. My thought was *maybe*, just maybe a developer would stumble upon my review of VirtualBox and have their interest piqued about the project. Much to my dismay, this did not unfold as I wished it had.  That being said, my next step is announcing the project itself on the Ubuntu brainstorm. Why? If you’ve been following Suprablog, I’m sure you gather that we primarily use the Linux operating system, and to be specific, Ubuntu. Therefore, it’s natural that we would think of integration deep within Ubuntu as if boundaries didn’t exist.

So, why would SupraSphere and Linux make a good team? The truth is, SupraSphere could and should become a key piece of Ubuntu and the evolving Linux Desktop story. The reason is that it has key conceptual attributes that will allow Linux to innovate and leapfrog other approaches. These attributes are these four general areas: services-oriented desktop (web os/desktop), end-to-end security, database filesystem, and virtualization. We have Launchpad, which has incredible community support for a multitude of smaller projects. Now, imagine using Launchpad and SupraSphere hand in hand; improving in a top-notch security environment and being able to communicate and access information/documentaion in providing the best open source projects out there. Sounds like a dream come true for other developers, no?

Running SupraSphere is in fact like running a virtual desktop. It can store all of your files, bookmarks, rss feeds, contacts, and email all in one place, where you can search across them. It has extremely secure messaging and authentication (beyond SSH and SSL even). You can tag across all message types. You can search and view your desktop remotely. It’s the ideal system to fit in with the virtualization trends that are emerging. We already have four distinct and separate user interfaces that all share messaging protocols and the same data store: Eclipse RCP, plain servlet, RAP ajax UI, openlaszlo, and even a prototype XUL interface.

That said, there are of course problems. We don’t even have a .deb or .rpm packaged version of our system. While we have some connections within the Eclipse, Mozilla, Sun/Java, and Apache communities, we have little or no exposure within the the Linux ecosystem, especially within the Ubuntu community. We feel very strongly that if Ubuntu were to embrace the ideas within our project, it would put Ubuntu above and beyond any other distribution, and help lead the way to Linux Desktop bliss.

Please help. Now is the time. With Java and Linux becoming closer, with MySQL now a part of Sun, SupraSphere can tie in numerous different communities and projects, and propel the Linux desktop way ahead of the competition.

If you have experience with Linux (especially Ubuntu), Java, or Ajax, please contact us to volunteer your efforts.

Email us at: developers [at] suprasphere [dot] com