IntelligentPad development
To date, five different versions of the IntelligentPad system have been developed: UNIX, Windows, Macintosh, Digital Factory (Smalltalk), and the "standard specification" version. Fujitsu Ltd., one of the IPC corporate members, has developed a Windows 95 IntelligentPad kernel based on version 2 of the IntelligentPad standard specification. The binaries of alpha-versions are made generally available through the IPC, while for members of the Consortium the source code is also available on signing an agreement.
In addition, other versions have been developed by universities, IPC members and the IPC itself. These include Smalltalk-80 and Smalltalk Agents (Macintosh) versions produced at the Tanaka Laboratory in Hokkaido University, an InterViews/C++ version by the IPC (the "IntelligentPad Reference System", available free of charge from the IPC since 1994), a Smalltalk version from the Digital Factory project at the Sapporo Electronics Center, and a Smalltalk Agents version developed by Hiroshi Shimase (IPC individual member). These independently-developed systems are not mutually compatible, but the IPC has made them publicly available as demonstrations of IntelligentPad's potential.
From here we are looking forward to the development of a large number of new pads implementing basic facilities while emphasising extensibility, distribution and exchange, and of many example systems that make use of IntelligentPad's special features.
The main attraction of IntelligentPad is the idea that users can freely assemble the applications they want, simply by pasting together whatever pads they need. The true significance of this facility will become apparent when the system on which it is built acts as a "media architecture". Professor Tanaka and his group at the Meme Media Laboratory in Hokkaido University, having transferred the emphasis of their work from development of IntelligentPad as a software system to its role as a media architecture, are pushing ahead with the research needed to make this a reality.
Challenges The research and development challenges at this point include the following:
- Establishment of a worldwide pad distribution system.
Mechanisms for pad distribution over the WWW have already been implemented, as has the use of IntelligentPad as a front end to the Internet. We are now working on further examples of Internet front end, and an architecture that implements a charging scheme for pad use.
- Pad management and retrieval.
We are developing content-based search facilities that will allow pads to be retrieved by techniques such as matching their capabilities to the purpose for which they are being sought.
- Making a business out of reuse, redistribution and re-editing.
The challenge of integrating into a media system the mechanisms for usage charging, fee request and payment is key to the success of an IntelligentPad-based meme media architecture.
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