Am I missing something, because this doesn't seem to say much about architecture. It just seems like some guy got his marketeer on, and is using strange words to say, "You aren't storing enough data".
I agree strongly with your "augment" point, and I'd just like to point out that online communications mediums provide opportunities for expression not possible in other contexts.
For one thing, text chat is a very different art from speaking. Any kind of timing or nonverbal sound has to be expressed somehow in ASCII. Most emoticons are thin symbolic standins for actual face-eye contact, but some emoticons and larger images posted on forums and the like express things you couldn't possibly express verbally.
Now, you may say, hey great, so the next great leap in human relationships is fucking LOLcats. Well, people walk around saying Git 'R Dun to each other in the flesh. In my opinion LOLcats is at least a step up from that. Besides, that's just retarded superpopular images.
Putting aside the base communication, what about file transfers? If I'm chatting with someone, it's trivial to hand over, in a sense, some image or mp3 or document or whatever. And we're both in a position to handle those files: play or edit them or whatever.
So.
Yea.
Communication on the net is far more than just speech without inflection.
I was shocked when I tried this how easy it is to pick up. I got fast enough to IM comfortably after two or three sentences. I may break this out now and again when I'm too tired or messed up to type properly.
Apparantly you can train it on sample text, which I haven't yet tried. I wonder if this can work well for code.
> I would now consider Quake II to be the best of the current crop.
God, doesn't anybody have taste? Not that I'm not guilty of popping wood at the arrival of OpenGL in PC gaming, but come on people. Quake II's actual content is uninspired at best.
I learned to program in BASIC on a Tandy 1000SX and an m100. That thing was great for long trips to grandma's.
I still remember my very first attempt. I tried typing lines from a BASIC book into a DOS prompt, which obviously frustrated my tiny being to no end. My dad showed me how to start gwbasic, and I've been on this ride ever since.
Even discounting the 'net, what about encrypted broadcasts a la DirectTV? That might be a better way to do HD content delivery in the near future anyway.
I don't think media like this is going to last more than one more generation. If that.