Internet-based Workkows: a Paradigm for Dynamically Reconngurable Desktop Environments

{ The Internet-based desktop environment as de-ned in this paper consists of a cross-platform browser, a number of server icons (host nodes), a number of application icons (program nodes) and a number of data icons ((le nodes). In contrast to typical desktops of today, where data icons may be dragged and dropped onto application icons for execution, this environment allows (1) user-deened and reconngurable execution sequences by creating dependency edges between program nodes (application icons) and le nodes (data icons); (2) data-dependent execution sequences by dynamic scheduling of path as well as loop executions; (3) host-transparency as to the location of applications and data (both can reside on any host with a unique IP address). We argue that the Internet-based workkow paradigm is suitable for creation of dynamically reconngurable desktop environments. The summary of 450 Internet-based experiments demonstrates (1) the value of making the desktop recordable, and (2) the feasibility of rendering it collaborative. Introduction The Internet is removing the barriers across space, time and technologies. In particular, network-integrated computing on the Internet is an area of great expectations and ongoing research. Questions that arise concern system infrastructure and quality-of-service, security mechanisms, information retrieval , writing programs that run on the Internet, user interface , groups of distributed users that require collaboration and other types of software tools. Presently, the basic desktop environment of a computer