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I could go the cliche route: the world is changing.

I could go the proverbial route: we're the proverbial frog in the pot being boiled alive.

Or I could just try to explain what I see.

The browser, the internet and the desktop are merging, and while I think we'll work it out eventually, I think we need to work hard to make sure we work it out with a free and open source solution first. (We need to solve the problem before Apple or Microsoft and make sure our solution is a great one!)

Actually I think the internet has already changed everything and the browser has been playing the go between between the internet and the desktop for a long time now.

Mozilla has been working on bringing the internet to users and because of them users know what this new use model can look like - they've tasted what it's like to have seamless integration between at least the browser on your desktop and the application.

GNOME is working on it. Partially with GNOME Mobile and partially with GNOME 3.0.

While most people outside of GNOME Mobile probably think of cell phones when they think of mobile, GNOME Mobile is really about making the desktop fit the new form factors (phones, netbooks, devices, ...) and making it work well with a non traditional user interface. And more often than not the nontraditional user interface is a small screen connecting the user to the internet.

In PCMag Tim Bajarin says:

I'm glad that Linux and GNOME have already been doing this for a number of years.

Now I think the next step is not making them talk together but making the parts into one seamless user experience. The average iPhone user probably doesn't think about maps as an application on their phone, a browser and some data out there somewhere. It's just maps. It's there on their phone when they need it. If they have a big server in their home, they're not going to want to worry where dad stashed the movies on the hard drive, they just want to see the movies they have, with all the data about each movie and actor pulled from the internet.

A smartphone user no longer really cares about their operating system, they care about what the phone can do, what apps they can put on it. So it's up to us, those building the operating system, desktop, and applications to make sure they all work together to make applications users want.

So why am I harping on this? Because I see lots of work going into the desktop. I see lots of work going into the browser. I see lots of work going into the apps. But I don't see lots of requests coming from application developers to the GNOME Mobile team. Or lots of conversations happening between different application developers, desktop developers and browser developers.

We provide GNOME Mobile as building blocks for mobile devices but it won't meet users' needs unless there's more interaction and more conversation between the device manufacturers, GNOME Mobile, the browser developers and the application developers.

Like I said yesterday, it's important we understand the new user model and develop for it.

So come join the conversation. GNOME Mobile is one place. Bringing the power of the desktop to devices of all shapes and sizes.

The GNOME Online Desktop project is another. They are working on bringing internet apps and data to the traditional desktop.

Please feel free to suggest others.

Frog in a pot picture by purpleslog.