Isis Systems

Google Gears: allowing offline-enabled Web apps

2007-06-03T20:55:51-05:00

The main drawback of Google Apps was the need to be online to use them. Google is launching Google Gears, an application that can be downloaded and installed locally. With Google Gears, users will be able to access Google applications even when they aren't connected to the Internet. The most impresive move is that they are launching the tool as an Open Source application.

Google Gears (BETA) is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux

According to CNET Networks: “Gears is a browser extension that will enable people to access their Web applications when working offline. It works on all major browsers and operating systems, and can be used by developers to make any application offline-enabled, not just Google programs.”

To see the developers guide:

Google Gears API Developer's Guide (Beta)

The first program released in Gears is Google Reader, this will allow a user to manually download the most recent feeds into their personal computer in order to read them offline. Maybe the next releases will be Gmail, Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheet. Google Reader was developed by a Google engineer who wanted to review his news feeds while traveling. The growth of the "offline-enabled" applications will be huge, either from Google and from independent developers, due to the fact that Gears is Open Source (with thousands of developers arond the world contributing with new applications).

You can see more info in this YouTube video:

Jorge I. Blanco

Google Docs is great but there are other options...

2007-05-20T08:58:37-05:00

For the ones that are not comfortable with the features of Google Docs, there are other Web 2.o applications available. One of them is Think Free which provides text editor, spreadsheet and presentation software with the same look and feel of MS Office. They offer a webtop (like a desktop but in the Web) with 1GB capacity. There is group editing and group sharing.

They offer four products:

ThinkFree Online: Manage, access, and edit documents over the internet. Get the best Microsoft Office compatibility available. Share and get everyone's input on your story, schedule, or marketing materials.
ThinkFree Desktop: Word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications that let you create and edit Microsoft Office format documents. Compatible with Windows, Linux, and Macintosh systems.
ThinkFree Server: Run ThinkFree on your servers. Easy centralized maintenance and a lower license cost reduce TCO. Edit remote documents online while providing security behind your firewal.
ThinkFree Portable: Office on the go. There are two versions:
- It runs on U3 USB memory devices. The software runs on the portable device without worrying about the applications on the host computer you are using at the moment.
- There is another portable version for iPods. The software loads from the iPod into the memory of a computer that the iPod is connected to, regardless of whether the computer is running Mac OS X or Windows.

The first product is free, the other three are sold with license prices between $30 and $49 USD.

Jorge I. Blanco

Get thins done with Google Apps

2007-05-18T21:56:50-05:00

Now take a look to a 17-minute video shows how to use Google Apps, with a focus on the integration of Gmail with other Google products to create a productivity suite of sorts. Here’s Rajen Sheth, a manager for Google’s enterprise products, doing a really nice job providing the overview:

Google Calendar.

2007-05-07T15:16:47-05:00

Now you must ask yourself why use a Google Calendar, if you can keep track of all your apointments in your cell phone, Agenda, or even mail client like Outlook, Well let me tell you why, only one word, COLLABORATION, in this case im going to give you an example..

I have a calendar on my isisconsulting.com.mx account, you can acces that form the left corner in the link CALENDAR..

Now you enter too the google calendar, and you will se a nice calendar like any other web application or outlook calendar, with some diferences..

Now you can crate you rask ans cretae shared calendars, for this you only need to follow this single Steps..

1.- Go to Calendars, and click in Calendar administration, blue link on the bottom.
2.- Create new calendar, we are going to create a Sap BO new calendar. must apear like this

3.- Now we have two calendars One personal Calendar an One Sap BO calendar, with diferent colors.
4.- Write some appointment in one of the calendars, like Meeting with John Tomorrw at 10:00

5.- Now if you notice is a Green appointment, you select wich calendar you want to use. and if you click on it you will can edit all the information inside, and share your calendar with some one, like in this example i will invite like collaboration to mi friend John.

Now John is invited to the event i create,

6.- But we can share all the calendar to all the team, im going to invite to all the isis team to be Calendar collaboration. Jus click on the green arrow just the Sap Bo calendar and will apear the option to share all calendar, just invite all the tem members.. must view like this.

Ready you have your first Google calendar Class. Please take a look on this video..

http://services.google.com/apps/resources/overviews_breeze/Calendar/index.html

Why Web-Based Applications?

2007-05-07T10:12:53-05:00

Now that the Isis team is moving to Google Apps, some one can ask why use we use web-based applications - What are the advantages relative to desktop applications. Its a long story but let me make some comments about this. I found this is infomation that can be useful to understand what are WEB APPS..

Im going to be one of the examples, i have already installed in my Lap Top the Office suite from Micrsoft, because sometimes i need it, but normally i use Google docs and spreadsheets for my needs and most of my task.

One nice thing about online
applications is that they are updated automatically, so you are always
using the current version. Collaboration and universal Web access to
your work are two other pluses.

Viability of the vendor. Will the vendor be
around in the future, or will it and your data disappear? We are lucky
that some of the players are really big, such as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) .
It is probably best to stick with one of these. I would not hesitate to
bet that the readers of this column probably have an alternate online
e-mail account from Google, Yahoo, MSN , AOL, etc.
Data privacy. We don't seem to worry
about this with the big boys, but it would be fairly easy for someone
to post an application to compile e-mail lists or even infect a user's
computer with spyware
or adware. Again, larger and more stable sites probably have more
safeguards in place to protect your data and computer from hacking,
viruses and identity theft. (Hah -- from recent news let's hope that
they have better safeguards in place than federal government agencies!)
Speed of use. High-speed computers
and high-speed connections work best. Even with a really fast
connection, many of these applications seem to be slower than an
application residing on your computer. CF and I have both had Web-based
applications time out on us.
Price. Most of these online
applications are not free. They may have an initial free trial period,
but many charge a monthly or yearly fee after that. Many offer
non-profit and academic pricing.

Now. there are a lot of web applications now running over the web, and for a very accesible price, or even free, let me tell you what can be a good formula for your computer or laptop and WEB APPLICATIONS.

You can have your computer with Linux, any Distribition, and you will have Open Office by Default, notice that comes with every linux distribution, and for windows you need to purchase MS Office for $300 US Dolars, an then you can have both Web apps and Desktop Office aplications, nomally the files you most need you can create in Web apps and save it like Open Ofice or PDF, and you can modify that file and upload to the web when you are connected again, normally people use Word Processors like Word processor, not need that millions of functions that comes with MS office, and believe me this is only the beginning, there are WEB BASE, databases, videoconfernce, CRM, Bussines Intelligence etc..

hope this be usefull for all..

Beginning with Google Apps

2007-05-04T18:51:27-05:00

The Isis team it´s now testing this new GOOGLE APPS, and let me explain you a little about what are searching for, firs of all, normally all Hosting services only give us like 10 Mb of mailboxes, thats crazy for 2007, normally i use almost 1 gig, only for my email, let me explain you why..

1.- I keep almost all mail that arrives that have some kind of use for me, maybe some day that information can be of some kind interest for someone, and there its going to be mi life throw some mails.

2.- I use to send images, video files, audio mails, and that can be done very easy combining GOOGLE MAIL, and GOOGLE TALK, then using Google Apps we have both.

3.-I travel a Lot and i need to chek my mail form a lot of places, like the Airport, bus station, restorant, and other educational institutions, then the web capability and mobile capabilities of Google Apps match exactly with what i need for my life and work.

Here is a little video thet explain very brioefly how google apps work.

http://services.google.com/apps/resources/overviews_breeze/Apps/index.html

And here is a little video for mail service from Google Apps.

http://services.google.com/apps/resources/overviews_breeze/Mail/index.html

Purpose of Isis Systems

2007-01-16T12:58:40-06:00

The Purpose of Isis Systems Blog is to develop and explain three dimensions for its Purpose:

First is system applications to enable and support Nodal Network Business operations for our clients, associated groups and our own operations. This work focuses on two areas: Configuring and installing the SAP Business One system as the essential foundation system for Nodal Network Operations; and Isis Group created Add-on Systems and Tools to customize and extend the capability of the SAP Business One system.

Second is to assure that Isis Group Network Web-Based Operations are a leader in using and developing the growing range of Web 2.0 communication, collaboration, sharing, publication and relationship/content managing technology and tools.

Third is to become a leader in creating and developing a new Genre of Living System software and its applications that are consistent with the Principles of Living Systems. We believe there is need for such software and commit to discovering and collaborating with others on how to fulfill this need.

Living System Software - #2

2006-10-02T13:42:18-05:00

This post is about a Genre of Operators, Arguments and Expressions that appear to be needed to create living system software. Maybe this post can help my partner Paco Moreno to progress in his application work that he wrote about in his post - Living System Software - How?

This post is about an idea that was given to me yesterday directly from my unconscious. I was doing focused conscious work at that time that completely dominated my conscious psyche, so far as I was aware - And it was not even remotely associated with software. Suddenly this idea grabbed my conscious attention. Maybe it is non-sense and maybe not. I ask my colleagues to help me learn which.

The idea goes like this - Since living system structure and dynamics are always Bi-Polar, we must for living system software have Bi-Polar Operators, or Meta-Operators. This is such a non-conventional idea that I need to try to explain what I am talking about. Therefore this post may get to be rather long. I will work hard to keep it interesting.

What does Bi-Polar mean in this sense?

First let me contrast linear systems with living systems.

Linear systems are inherently Uni-Polar. This means that their dimensions or characteristics are single pole and independent of each other. These dimensions are separate, opposite and mutually exclusive. These dimensions are independent variables. This gives rise to the linear cause to effect, sequential logic of linear systems. There can be more than one solution to any question, but one must be the right answer, or at least the preferred answer. Paradoxes, or statements of conflicting opposites, must be resolved to get useful answers. An End-Point concept of life and work results that is viewed by a linear conscious psyche as the means to scientifically (according to linear science) verified progress.

Living Systems are inherently Bi-Polar. This means that their dimensions or characteristics are double pole and inter-dependent with each other. These dimensions are not separable, they are complementary opposite and mutually essential to each other. They are two pole inter-dependent variables. For a living system there is No Independent ANYTHING. This gives rise to the non-linear pattern-of-cause-to-pattern of effect logic of living systems. Each solution to any question is a result of a dynamic mix of pairs of the two complementary polar opposites in cyclical cycles, not in linear sequence. There is a dynamic cyclical mix of pairs of mutually essential poles in every right answer. (To the Linear Psyche this situation is NO answer at all , but non-sense.) Paradoxes, or statements of conflicting opposites, can never be resolved because the polar opposites are inherently inseparable. Paradoxes are to be lived as the foundation for validity in life and work. A Cyclical Process concept of life and work results that is viewed to the living system psyche as the means to scientifically (according to living system science) verified progress.

Now let me give an example. After that I will try to describe what living system software operators may be.

The Example of Order and Chaos.

In a Linear System world of life and work, Order and Chaos are mutually exclusive. In fact they are defined in terms of the absence of each other. (This is the concept of life and work that is still dominant, but is now in decline) If something is orderly it is without chaos. If something is chaotic it is without order. In the Linear world, to be orderly means to be stuck at the Pole of Order and the relationship with the opposite Chaos Pole is severed.

For linear system life and work, this is the desired position to be in because Order is desirable and Chaos is not. Chaos is to be avoided or eliminated from your life and work. The inherent bi-polar structure of our Creator's universe with respect to the dynamic partnership of Order AND Chaos cannot be perceived by a Linear Psyche. Conscious Order is deemed good and Chaos is bad and is to be denied, eliminated, ignored or banished to the unconscious. In Linear System Software the Operators must be Orderly and lead to orderly behavior of the software. The Operators must be uni-polar in all ways so that Chaos is eliminated.

In the Living System world of life and work, Order and Chaos are mutually essential. In fact they are defined in terms of the equally important presence of each other in dynamic collaboration. Living system dynamics is based on the mutually enabling capacity of Order and Chaos. In short, they are Partners. For example: If something is mostly orderly in the conscious it is a good time to achieve specific conscious operating results. If something is mostly chaotic in the conscious it is a good time to achieve specific insights from the unconscious (that is the source for dramatic new advances). This is the process that can lead to dramatic new discoveries and results that were not even conceived of earlier. (Carl Jung's practice of Active Imagination is the tool for accomplishing this)

In the Living System world if something is only orderly it is temporarily without significant chaos at one extreme of an order-chaos cycle in life and work. If something is only chaotic it is temporarily without significant order at the other extreme of an order-chaos cycle in life and work. In the Living System world one need never be stuck at either the pole of Order or Chaos. We are constantly in action between the two poles in some integrated combination. The relationship between the complementary poles is never severed.

The desired position for living system life and work is to be in cyclical dynamic balance between the poles. Order and Chaos are both desirable in their proper balance for the situation of life and work at hand. Neither Order or Chaos is to avoided or eliminated from your life and work. The inherent bi-polar structure of our Creator's universe with respect to the dynamic partnership of Order AND Chaos is perceived by a Living System Psyche. Neither Order or Chaos is either inherently good or bad and to be denied, eliminated, ignored or banished to the unconscious. In Living System Software the Operators must, it seems to me, to inherently bi-polar.

Now let's discuss how a living system operates and then imagine what Living System Software Operators may be like.

How a Living System Operates

Again a contrast with a linear system may be helpful. All systems have two fundamental dimensions - Their structure and their dynamics, or process of behavior.

For a linear system, the structure is primary. Once the structure is defined and put in place the dynamics is the result of the structure. Structure determines behavior. The structure is externally determined and put into place. A linear system is a closed and a Dead System - It cannot self-determine or re-organize its own structure to be able to change its dynamics. A linear system can be independent of its environments. External design and construction is necessary and operational management to adjust its operating behavior is also necessary. Linear system structure evolves qualitatively only through external intervention.

For a living system, its structure and dynamics are a bi-polar pair of system dimensions that dynamically co-determine each other continuously. Living systems are always inter-related with some enabling and nurturing environment that enables this process to proceed and guides and shapes its process. There is no such thing as an independent living system. Living systems evolve cyclically through a bi-polar process of self-enabled evolution. This evolution process must be consistent with the dimensions of the enabling and nurturing environment - The system's Morphic Field.

Note: The reason I am taking you through all this explanation is because Living System Software must be able to deal with these dimensions of living systems. Possibly, bi-polar system evolution is the most fundamental thing that living system software must be able to describe. It is at the heart of all living system software application. So let's go deeper into living system evolution before we try to define the new type of software operators that may be needed to work with living systems.

The majority of the bi-polar evolution process of a living system takes place within semi-stable regions of system operations called Stages.

The first type of evolution is quasi-linear, continuous gradual development within a given stage. This is called Intra-Stage Development Evolution. In biological evolution this is the conventional "Darwinian" type of evolution. It is a continuous bi-polar self-organization (within a Stage) that gradually adjusts both the system structure and its dynamics - But these evolutionary changes are not sufficient to trigger the system to abruptly transform to another quasi-stable region of structure and dynamics qualitatively different from the current stage.

At critical times of living system's life, it reaches a point when the system enters a second type of evolution. It is called Inter-Stage Transformation Evolution - It is really Transcendence from one Stage of structure and dynamics to a qualitatively different one. It is a highly non-linear, discontinuous, abrupt transformation type of evolution. This is when the system becomes highly chaotic, prepares to transcend its prior stage and then leaps to a qualitatively new stage of structure and dynamics radically different from what preceded it. It is crucial to note that living systems make these inter-stage transitions WITHOUT the planning or control of conventional mangers. The living system then settles down in its new stage and begins its gradual development in the new stage as the first part of a new evolution cycle.

Note: Such an inter-stage leap is now in progress throughout the world for the seventh time in human history in the lives and work of leading edge humans. In fact, Living System Human Nature is the driving force for this current transformation - That unfortunately many do not yet perceive. Living System Science and Living System Software are of course the guiding lights for the advancement of human knowledge now.

Thus, each evolution cycle of a living system includes one period of quasi-linear development within a given stage (Type 1 Evolution - Intra-Stage Evolution) and one much shorter period of transcendent leap away from its current stage into the next stage in its evolutionary history (Type 2 Evolution - Inter-Stage Evolution). This whole process is self-driven so long as the enabling and nurturing environment is consistent with the process continuing.

What Living System Software Operators May be Like

Living System Software must be able to deal with the bi-polar process of living system structure-dynamics and both types of system evolution that I have just described. Therefore, its operators must themselves have a living system structure and dynamics. That could mean that a living system software operator is not a single operator but is a bi-polar operator pair.

Again let's contrast a conventional linear software expression with what could be a living system software expression.

A linear system software expression is composed of an operator that acts on some argument list to return some value. For example: A Lisp expression would be given as follows:
(Operator Argument List). An example could be ( + a b) which means that the addition operator operates on the arguments a and b to add then and return the result = a + b.

Possibly a living system software expression requires a new type of bi-polar operator - A Meta-Operator.

Recall that the structure and dynamics of a living system is inherently bi-polar in all its dimensions, structural and dynamic. Such a living system software expression could have the syntax of a meta-operator that acts on some argument array. The expression could be given as follows:
(Meta-Operator Argument Array)

The meta-operator would be a new type bi-polar operator composed of a pair of two complementary opposite operators. The meta-operator would be named for a bi-polar dimension of a living system. The meta-operator would operate over the range between the two polar opposite operators. At one extreme of the range the meta-operator would act like it was a linear operator for only the one polar operator. At the other extreme of the meta-operator's range, the meta-operator would act like it was a linear operator for the other polar operator. Between the two extreme poles, the meta-operator would act as some coupled combination of the two polar opposite operators.

Now let's use our previous discussion of living system bi-polar evolution to deal with the question of living system software operators.

For example: A living system meta-operator named Evolution would be composed of the two complementary polar opposite operators called Intra-stage Development Operator and Inter-Stage Transformation Operator.

During the intra-stage development part of the system's evolution cycle, it would act on the argument array according to its nature close to the Intra-Stage Development Pole. The amount of system Order would be quite high and Chaos quite low. As the system's development evolution matures, the evolution Operator will take on behavior appropriate for a more central position on its range between the two polar extremes. Here the amount of Chaos grows and the amount of Order decreases. As the system prepares for Inter-Stage Transformation, the Evolution Operator will take on more behavior appropriate for the Inter-Stage Transformation Operator alone. Here the amount of Chaos is very high and the amount of Order becomes negligible at the time of the transcendent leap to the next Stage of system life.

Note: To make my explanation above I have used the Order-Chaos Meta-Operator also. It is clear that these meta-operators for living systems are NOT independent of each other. They are highly inter-dependent. As the Evolution Operator moves along its range between its two opposite poles so does the Order-Chaos Operator. Of course there are also other meta-operators involved too that i am not mentioning in this example.

Now there are just a few more points to complete this first attempt to define the Meta-Operators for an emerging living system software science.

What is an Argument Array

It seems plausible to me that each polar opposite operator of a meta-operator, if it were a separate linear operator by itself, would have its own unique list of arguments that it would operate on. It seems plausible to me that we cannot make an argument list for a meta-operator by simply adding together the two argument lists. That is a linear addition that cannot be correct for living system arguments.

It seems plausible to me that a two dimensional array could be a way to describe the two argument lists and their interactions. The columns of the two dimensional array would be named for the arguments for one of the operators. The rows of the two dimensional array would be named for the arguments of the other operator. The top row of the array would be the active arguments for system behavior at one of the polar extremes. The left most column of the array would be the active arguments for system behavior at the other polar extreme. When the system is operating on its range between the polar opposites, the cross terms of the array would become active. The cress terms define new arguments that result because both operator poles of the meta-operator are active to a significant degree.

How do You Define the Current Operating Point between the Polar Extremes

It seems plausible that this is where the underlying Morphic Field comes in. An underlying meta-operator is used to tell the operating plane of the system where the system is operating in its evolution cycle.

Since this post is already too long, I believe it is best to delay this discussion for a later post.

The point here is to receive your feedback on what I have written so far about the idea of Living System Software Meta-Operators and Argument Arrays as the components of a new type of Living System Software Expressions.

John Clayton Caris

Living System Software - How?

2006-10-02T13:35:52-05:00

Posted by Paco Moreno

Yesterday I started working on developing a web based application that can be useful for living system business(Nodal Network Business). It is called the Profit and Return Chart. It is part of a group of applications needed for Nodal Network Business Operations.

I worked about 12 hours and believe me, its not hard to code such an application. What is hard is trying to create a living system software application. Let me try to explain myself.

Just being a web server application is not enough. The application must be related to and arise from an underlying morphic field. It must be embedded in the living system nature of the web, not just use the web as linear communication channel for the user to operate the application. Furthermore, the application should be consistent with the principles of living system science and their application to creating a whole new Genre of Software - Living System Software.

John Clayton Caris and I are collaborating to discover the principles of Living System Software and then apply them to create new applications. We welcome you to join us in this fascinating challenge that is a major part of the work of the Isis Group Network in developing the theory and practice of Living System Life and Work.

John wrote an entry to this blog (Living System Software # 1) that began our work to define what living system software is and how it is created. In my current work I am struggling with how to create my application consistent with Point 8) that John wrote in his blog entry.

John's Point 8) says:

"8) This means that the knowledge and data structure has a standard underlying Morphic structure that can then be customized - This means that all knowledge and data inputs go into the server base in a standard way and THEN customized by collaboration based on the standard While keeping the original structure as the start of the input channel - Space is cheap and database mapping to the customized structure is not difficult"

That's an incredibly hard to do. Why, if the user needs to create a new model in his work, like an experiment, the application must have the capability to try to do it even if it leads to an apparently absurd equation. It needs to be done, because that is how living systems work. They can deal with application uncertainty that is not allowed in normal linear system software. They must be able to somehow work through a million errors without code error. They involve a new type of practice - An experimental experience that that CAN TRY many unconventional alternatives and somehow arrive at an acceptable solution.

I think there are a lot of roads that can lead to creating living system software. Possibly some useful experience can be Miguel de Icaza with GNOME or MONO, but thats just the beginning of a very long road.

The first goal for me in learning how to create Living System Software now is to create an application's access to the underlying morphic field (Previously called the database) and become a dynamic transformational part of it.

" It's so easy create linear software, that almost all the people believe its a very difficult task".
" Living system software applications have to be based on the link between the user and his own solution".

I hope I am not boring with my ideas. www.fmoreno.com.mx

Barabasi's Networks and Living Systems

2006-10-02T13:26:23-05:00

posted by SantaLuca

On Barabasi's Linked: a Systems View, but not Living System

The work of Barabasi and others (explored in Barabasi's book 'Linked',) describes how networks come to have a power law distribution. In this kind of distribution, frequently called the 80-20 rule, most of the business, most of the connections, most of the money, not to mention most of the power and the glory, go disproportionately to the few. >P>Barabasi is a physicist, and consequently he sees the world -and the networks he analyzes in this book- through the eyes of a physicist. However, seeing the world in this way has one serious drawback for the study of living systems. Unfortunately, that drawback is not peculiar to Barabasi but typifies the outlook and approach of modern science in general. It is an outlook and approach which is almost exclusively reductionist.

Classical reductionism assumes that giving a description of the parts of a system amounts to giving a description of the whole system. By focusing only on the parts and the structure of networks, Barabasi focuses only on the mechanistic aspects of networks and their organization, but he does not look at the macro behavior of the system. The fact that a particular network is scale-free does not say anything about how a particular system actually behaves. And yet, when thinking of a living system, we really want to know how it acts, how it responds, how it deals with people, and how it interfaces with other organizations. To say that a system is scale-fee really doesn’t address any of these important questions about a living system. The reductionist approach is designed to find what things are made of and how the pieces are put together, but it is poorly designed to explain the holistic behavior of systems. Reductionism is the wrong tool for understanding the behavior of living systems.

A living system is more than the sum of its parts - or, in network terms, more that the sum of the links and nodes in the system. It takes more than being able to specify a structure and its parts to specify what a living system is. But if that’s the case, then how do we regain a holistic approach? In thinking about this, we would do well to take inspiration from studies in macro biology. This following passage succinctly differentiates a living from a mechanical system: ‘In contrast [to a mechanical system], in an organism, the “parts” exist both for one another and by means of one another.’ (pg.4, The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution; Stuart A. Kauffman, Oxford Univ. Press, 1993; 0-19-507951-5.)

Living systems also exist along a unique, one-way timeline; this is one thing that distinguishes living from non-living systems. In a non-living system like a computer, we could take all the pieces apart, spread them out on the floor, and then reassemble them. We still have the same computer. Similarly, but on a much larger scale, we could imagine taking the internet apart, severing all the links to all the nodes, and then relinking all the nodes. Other than the downtime, the internet would be the same. But clearly, biological living systems can’t be treated the same way; once apart, they can’t be reassembled into what they once were- a living system. The unique timeline has been broken.

Human social living systems have a distinctive feature absent from other biological living systems. Social systems are created, they are artificial, and they have a purpose, a reason for having been created. This teleology, or purpose, can never be found through a reductionist approach to the structure of human social systems. Human systems are purposely created around goals. In business, this goal-oriented behavior would be summarized in a business plan. In living systems, the point is to focus analysis on the whole system and the behavior of the whole system. Likewise, in human social systems, analysis needs to focus on how the system reaches its goals - rather than just looking at parts and structure.

Living System Software - #1

2006-10-02T13:19:33-05:00

This post begins my series of thoughts about the nature of Living System Software. The thoughts in this series of posts are inter-related to the posts I am making on my Personal Blog about the nature of Living Systems.

The writings of Paul Graham in his essays seem to apply quite closely to the discussions on living system software that Paco Moreno and I began last month - and that have now been joined by Al SantaLuca.

A very few things seem crystal clear to me about Living System Software:

1) The process begins with direct human interactions between creator-developers with at least one end-user and this human relationship continues throughout the development and the use of the software solution- With NO middlemen or agents or distributors or "suits", etc. ever being in the picture - This is a pure application of what I call "Alignment Marketing" - or business operations without conventional selling

2) The software solution is Web Based (the Morphic field) - Not desktop or local Intranet based

3) The bridge to the end-user-partner is a "Browser like" UI (this is how the Morphic Field is personally customized and used on the Operating Plane of the Living system) - This means that probably more uniqueness is in the UI that may be beyond the normal browser and its well known limitations - But current browsers are "good enough" for now and we should not delay to develop better UI's at first

4) The application is paid for by a member subscription with client value developed in terms of membership in a network of users

5) The software at the server network (Morphic field) is never at equilibrium - in continuous development with no formal "Release" process where the software process is frozen and then un-frozen and then re-frozen - It is a continuous process

6) The software at the UI is also in dynamic process of user customization under the chosen control of the end-user with the help as needed from the developer-administrators

7) The thing that is relatively static is the structure and process of the server based knowledge and data base - again designed by collaboration of the developer-administrators and the end user

8) This means that the knowledge and data structure has a standard underlying Morphic structure that can then be customized - This means that all knowledge and data inputs go into the server base in a standard way and THEN customized by collaboration based on the standard While keeping the original structure as the start of the input channel - Space is cheap and database mapping to the customized structure is not difficult

9) This means that the Help-CustomerService, the Development and the Systems Administration are NOT separate as they are in conventional deskbased software operations - they are integrated - because all three functions are done by the same persons - As operations scale up in size there are more teams created in a network of teams so that each team still has these integrated functions for some segmented group of clients and/or some portion of the application

There are more points to come - but I hope this is a start for us.

The basic point is - That we work out the details of our living system software model AS WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF CREATING AND WORKING WITH REAL CUSTOMERS ON REAL APPLICATION NEEDS. This means that we DO NOT try to Plan Out a Project first - THAT IS NOT THE LIVING SYSTEM WAY. We learn the most while doing together with a client.

John Clayton Caris

ASPs

2006-10-02T13:12:53-05:00

posted by SantaLuca

The Application Server Provider model that Paul Graham discusses in 'The Other Road Ahead' never really materialized for the home user. Wall Street talked a lot about ASPs in the late 1990's, as I remember, but it turned into vaporware and not the 'next big thing'. So, four years later, nothing fundamental has changed on the desktop for the home, non-corporate user.

Application Server Providers did eventually succeed, but on the corporate intranet where he thought they would find little acceptance. The applications aren't spreadsheets or word processors but HR material and forms, online continuing education materials, etc.: things that fulfill a need, very much the way Viaweb did, though accomplished with a different development model of course.

While the prediction in his essay, that ASPs would probably proliferate for the general user, wasn't realized, the essay still has real value. The lasting usefulness, and why we can still profit from reading it four years on, comes from his description of how software startups should work. Many of his other essays touch on the same thing. Reading more of them only hammers in the points that 1)startups must focus on the customer (because you have to sell a product to make money), and 2)that startups must not adopt too rigid a plan that limits the future direction of the project (because you don't know at the beginning where you really need to end up). All this is very nodal business network.

Who can say why ASPs didn't materialize on the home desktop? The answer really doesn't matter for our purposes here since our focus is much more on process needed to build a living systems software.