I don't see how open source will help, but what you are asking for already exists in Opera Unite.

Of course... The Firefox fanboys were *so* vicious in their slagging off of the feature on here and Another Place® that it's obviously never never going to be stolen and added to Firefox.... is it?

No, they'll wait for Google to steal it first, then claim to have stolen it from them, thus avoiding the claim they stole Unite ;-)

I now use Unite for all my personal uploads, downloads, photo sharing and to stream music/video to people. The emphasis there being personal. It's not supposed to be a professional web server.

Oh, and it's also good for exchanging comments thanks to the Fridge and Whiteboard apps - all written in HTML, CSS and Javascript and transferred directly from one PC to another, so no problems with doubting the source or whether the host is retaining your files and information.

People used to slag off Opera for using tabs, now they all have them. I think a point is coming when certain people will want the functionality of social networking sites but not the companies themselves. I'm absolutely certain that in a few years time, Unite (or whatever the Mozilla, Chrome and MS clones are called) will be as ubiquitous as tabs, zooming and RSS support.

the model of a centralized social network is fatally flawed. whoever runs that network needs to pay for it somehow, and their only stock in trade is your private information.

we need an open-source, peer-to-peer social network, with no centralized server and 100% user control over privacy.

Eastenders - Everyone's watching it.

That's their marketing strap like. That's what its viewers would have you believe. Anyone who says they don't watch soaps in the UK is thought of as odd or elitist.

Yet let's look at the figures. The Uk has a population of 61M. About 6-7M people usually watch Eastenders.

That's about 10% of the population.

So "Everyone's watching it" should actually be "90% of people aren't watching it", and yet it's understood that the norm is *to* watch it.

That's marketing and the herd mentality becoming very vocal for you.

So... what is the truth about Facebook? is it really something that *everyone* does, or are there simply a few relatively small cliques of celebrities using it as a rolling advert for their product, and students essentially 'playing' like oversized children with a big grown-up toy?

Do normal people actually use Facebook, or is it simply that professionals use it from behind the safety of a work address, office internet connection and all the other things that separate their real and personal lives? Lily Allen may love for you to be her friend and have full access to her 'private' information on her profile and photo pages, but what happens if you turn up at her door at 10pm with a box of Monopoly, a bottle of wine and a friendship bracelet from the Elizabeth Arden collection?

Are people who don't care at all about privacy on Facebook, and even publish their own phone numbers and addresses, the digital counterpart to the sad and lonely souls who approach Adam Woodyatt in Tesco, slap him in the face and then start shouting quite emotionally at him for what 'he' did to Frank Butcher or whoever?

I bet the percentage of the world's online population that actually use Facebook is no bigger than the proportion of people in the UK who actually watch soaps.

All of which makes you wonder why we allow it to have so much coverage. The BBC get criticised when they show niche sports on BBC1 or make documentaries about a man who makes his own butter, and ITV get stick for Celebrity Wrestling, so why doesn't the media get bashed for fuelling the cult of social networking?

Where privacy is concerned, what they did with the settings pissed a lot of people off. I'm personally dealing with a lot of fallout. People I did not want to deal with, I now have to deal with. And I'm still not sure what loose ends have been opened...

People want privacy. We are slowly testing the waters for the social affects of letting information that normally we consider sensative out. Its the people who have no shame that are making misguided people make bold claims about privacy is dead. Yikes!

And this is why John Smith is far more common a name in facebook than it is in reality? Also why they don't allow John Doe as a name on their site?? This Mark guy is a punk who needs a good dark alley lesson.

Mark Zuckerberg is not only a clueless child, he's a spoiled brat and an idiot.

And the people who seemingly trust this goon are only marginally better. If better at all.

well if this is true mr Mark Zuckerberg you wont mind publishing all your credit card details on the web - including the 3 figure number on the back!

.....im waiting!

you should learn to stop talking out of your ar$e and SFTU!!

You mean an IT boss preaching one thing and exercising another while promoting his company? Shocker I tells ya!

Anyone dumb enough to think privacy exists online deserves to have their ID stolen and bank accounts emptied and possibly get them signed up to Animal Farm monthly - and not the kids stories either

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