I'd have to say in one way or another that I've been searching for a persistent home on the web since the late 90s. What does the persistent home on the web mean? After all websites, blogs, YouTube accounts, email accounts are all to some degree spaces on the web. But the virtual desktop or virtual server is a whole different animal. While the website, blog, YouTube account or email account are all essentially modes of communication, the virtual desktop is a private space. VirtualMacOSX.com was launched with the virtual desktop as it's core philosophy: to free the user from the physical desktop and extend the power of the desktop to the multitude of devices we use daily.

Dropbox, on the other hand, deals with the decentralization of data across various devices and platforms from a different angle. They provide a superior synching platform meant to keep a variety of platforms synced to the same page.

When we combine the Web 1.0 and web 2.0 modes such as website, blog, YouTube account, email account into the persistence space of the virtual desktop and combine with the dropbox syncing platform and the virtual desktop becomes a central repository for our entire digital lives.

This provides a perfect architecture for the busy, data-laden mobile developer. The desktop is in a precarious position as it sits teetering on the edge of the mobile abyss. The double threat of the mobile device and cloud services is forcing the desktop to evolve. This evolution is producing a much more agile environment for both development and data persistence.

Afterall, a decade overseas has taught me the value of online real estate . In a stateless world a persistent home is a great comfort.

Keep on Coding!