Dummy Terminals - The future.

In the good old days the notion of a personal computer was completely unheard of. Only the top universities and institutions in the world had access to computers and they typically took up a floor or two of vacuum tubes.
Users engaged with this computer through dummy terminals which were basically a screen and keyboard but without any processing power of their own. Dummy terminals therefore relied on the central computer for all activities. Processor power was then charged on a time basis and was Timesliced between the various terminals which were being used.

So, where am I going with this?

Well consider what Google is doing (yes, I have a conspiracy theory), they are:

1. Building a massive network of computers (a worldwide supercomputer)
2. Getting as much activity to take place within their network as possible (Google Maps, Analytics, Gmail etc)
3. Providing a low processor requirement environment for users with all data and processor requirements residing with them

While this is a great setup for Google as bandwidth usage is is low, processor latency is greatly reduced and from a users perspective it is also great! If all data and software resides on this Google Supercomputer then there is no need for fast, expensive user based system. All we need is a generic dumb terminal, an internet connection and a username/password combination and we instantly have everything at our fingertips.

So then why the conspiracy?
With the introduction of Chrome Google now has the opportunity to start displacing competing browsers in exchange for theirs, furthermore, the many services which they offer are currently destroying their competitors and given enough time sizable competitors will start to thin and eventually vanish all together.

This provides Google with an absolute monopoly, not just in terms of the internet but in terms of EVERYTHING. Without information we are stranded islands and Google will be the only provider of information. When this happens they have the power to force us to pay - AS MUCH AS THEY WANT - for their services and there will be nothing we can do to stop it.

We halfway there - lets see how strongly "do no evil" sticks when we get all the way...