The biggest way that open source touches each of us is through web-based applications.
They are designed to make it easier for developers to create server-side Web-based applications.
CNN: Technology - Gates offers developers glimpse of Next Generation Windows
Both Read and Intel are targeting the data centers supporting social media, mobile devices, and web-based applications.
FORBES: SeaMicro Investor, Intel Trade Barbs Following AMD Acquisition
Google has already developed the software, called Gears, that lets a browser run such web-based applications.
ECONOMIST: Google goes in search of an instant operating system
The basis for this change has been the explosion of specialized, low-cost, web-based applications that power most online retailers.
For end-users, navigating web-based applications on the BlackBerry browser was cumbersome at best.
FORBES: Why One Canadian Developer Won't Build BlackBerry Apps
But instead of using Google's Gears, Jolicloud relies on Mozilla's Prism and Firefox to run various web-based applications.
ECONOMIST: Google goes in search of an instant operating system
Put another way, modern web-based applications that violate the application guidelines established in the 1970s cannot be controlled by stateful inspection firewalls.
FORBES: Tearing away the veil of hype from Palo Alto Networks' IPO
Sprint Nextelwants to encourage businesses to equip workers with mobile devices and use mobile e-mail and Web-based applications, thus increasing use of their networks.
The Chrome laptops are designed primarily to run Web-based applications, including those that use programming technology called HTML5, rather than applications stored on the device.
Drucker previously founded Steal Card, a software development company focused on creating web-based applications for insurance companies that was purchased by ChoicePoint in 2006 for an undisclosed sum.
He sees a big future for what he called "virtual close" -- the ability of companies to assess their own financial health on a daily basis using Web-based applications.
Compared to previous versions of HTML, HTML5 makes it easier to create feature-rich Web-based applications that can be updated remotely with new functionality without requiring users to download and install an update each time.
FORBES: HTML5 Vs. Native Mobile Apps: Myths and Misconceptions
For a company like HP, which makes the bulk of its revenue from selling desktop machines, the move to Web-based applications and the slackening demand for heavyweight computers don't seem like reasons to celebrate.
Sprint Nextel (nyse: S - news - people )wants to encourage businesses to equip workers with mobile devices and use mobile e-mail and Web-based applications, thus increasing use of their networks.
But now it's unclear how that strength on the desktop will translate into an edge in online advertising, digital media and Web-based business applications.
Offerings from start-ups such as AdventNet's Zoho and ThinkFree Online go further than Google does in offering a rich array of free, Web-based business applications.
Software tools, in the form of centralized, Web-based management applications and platforms, are making buildings smarter and more energy-efficient by ensuring that lighting better matches the way we work today.
Schmidt says we are seeing the death of IT as we know it, and that next generations of companies will be built by Web-based, cloud-based applications.
If you think about your financial data and how secure it needs to be, and how perhaps it is not always secure, then the work that banks and their tech teams do in developing web-based and mobile applications is hugely important.
FORBES: 10 Leading Finance And Banking Apps For iPhone And iPad
But this digital Battle of Verdun is not the only challenge for Google as Mozilla is also launching its mobile operating system: FirefoxOS. To make a long story short, FirefoxOS is the equivalent of ChromeOS for smartphones: a light-weight mobile operating system where the user interface and all applications are web-based.
FORBES: How Alibaba And Mozilla Are Trying To Break Google And Apple Duopoly On Smartphone
Today, client-server architectures have been replaced by browser-based user Web applications and the cost of computing has fallen dramatically which, along with cloud computing, have made scalability issue quite a different proposition.
It is also working with Citrix to enable companies to migrate older applications to the Web-based world.
As the name suggests, this is a balance between personal computing, with local applications, and web-based cloud computing.
FORBES: Asus Betting On Android And Windows For Tablets, Not Chrome
Chambers identified Web-based learning as one of the hottest new applications in coming years.
"Web-based email could be a great platform for social applications, " says Shervin Pishevar, executive chairman of Social Gaming Network, a social games developer, who sees more similarities between social networking incumbents like Facebook and Twitter with Google Buzz than just the sharing of statuses, links and other media.
San Francisco-based Trulia provides home listings through the Web and mobile applications, and makes money selling subscriptions and advertisements.
"Our innovative approach, using Web 2.0-based standards, lets developers create amazing new applications, " wrote Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the time.
What's more, the "write once, deploy everywhere" nature of the platform will massively reduce the cost of creating, versioning and maintaining applications, enabling a truly open, standards-based Web that advances opportunity and innovation for all.
ENGADGET: Mozilla Labs Apps set to allow developer submissions for Mozilla Marketplace at MWC
We're told that HTML5 BlackBerry 10 applications can run on the tech after some tweaks for screen resolution -- much like the web-based key fob that you'll see here.
ENGADGET: QNX outfits a Bentley Continental GT with Car Platform 2.0, we go hands-on (video)
应用推荐