Google Chrome OS?

Since forever in web time the chatter has been about a new 'web OS' from Google. With the advent of rich internet applications in the form of GMail, Google Documents, Calendar, etc we're seeing the migration of information to the web, followed by the migration of the application to the web as a service.

Look at the information habits of people around you, we're relying on portable devices to access the bits of information relevant to time and space, and taking much smaller bites out of the apple..search for a gas station with the lowest price, find the number to a good plumber, send a text message to the baby-sitter. It only makes sense to re-think the relationship of all of these types of applications to the traditional desktop or laptop, or at least Google thinks so..

From Google...

So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

The Chrome OS is targeted first towards small notebooks (and probably tablets?) The post makes it clear that ChromeOS and Android are separate concerns, though a good deal of overlap is acknowledged. Certainly the services that would be consumed by Android are the same services that a typical 'notebook' computer would want, and many of us would treat a notebook and smart phone as interchangable for many tasks.

Intermittantly connected (a-la Gears) rich internet applications will be a key application delivery mode, whether in the form of widgets, or in full-blown browser-based applications. Combine this with a growing number of cloud services running on big grids, and maybe a web OS makes sense?

Putting Google Earth into a WPF window

This may end up being fruitless, but I was inspired by this multi-channel version of Microsoft Virtual Earth. It looks like they linked multiple version of Virtual Earth with different camera settings, and I wanted to try something similar with Google Earth for our Global Immersion dome. This four-projector rig needs a viewport and four camera views to work right. Can I create a full-screen app that has these four viewports, and have four synchronized version of Google Earth running? I don't know, but the first step was to see if I could create a WPF app that had Google Earth embedded in the WPF window. You can at least do that, and that's interesting in itself, because I can add a Google Earth widget to my InfoMesa/Collage experiments described here...

Anyhow, here's the window in all its (yawn) glory:



It was a bit of a slog to get it right, and I'll share the code that worked. First, I had to get Google Earth, which gives you this COM SDK. I did this using C#, Vis Studio 2008. I added a project ref to the COM Google Earth library, and created a class that extended HwndHost.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.Windows.Interop;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using EARTHLib;

namespace GeTest
{
class MyHwndHost : HwndHost
{


[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern int SetParent(int hWndChild, int hWndParent);
IApplicationGE iGeApp;


[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "GetDC")]
public static extern IntPtr GetDC(IntPtr ptr);



[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "GetWindowDC")]
public static extern IntPtr GetWindowDC(Int32 ptr);

[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "IsChild")]
public static extern bool IsChild(int hWndParent, int hwnd);


[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "ReleaseDC")]
public static extern IntPtr ReleaseDC(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hDc);

[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
public extern static bool SetWindowPos(int hWnd, IntPtr hWndInsertAfter, int X, int Y, int cx, int cy, uint uFlags);

[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
public static extern IntPtr PostMessage(int hWnd, int msg, int wParam, int lParam);

//PInvoke declarations
[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "CreateWindowEx", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
internal static extern IntPtr CreateWindowEx(int dwExStyle,
string lpszClassName,
string lpszWindowName,
int style,
int x, int y,
int width, int height,
IntPtr hwndParent,
IntPtr hMenu,
IntPtr hInst,
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.AsAny)] object pvParam);


readonly IntPtr HWND_BOTTOM = new IntPtr(1);
readonly IntPtr HWND_NOTOPMOST = new IntPtr(-2);
readonly IntPtr HWND_TOP = new IntPtr(0);
readonly IntPtr HWND_TOPMOST = new IntPtr(-1);
static readonly UInt32 SWP_NOSIZE = 1;
static readonly UInt32 SWP_NOMOVE = 2;
static readonly UInt32 SWP_NOZORDER = 4;
static readonly UInt32 SWP_NOREDRAW = 8;
static readonly UInt32 SWP_NOACTIVATE = 16;
static readonly UInt32 SWP_FRAMECHANGED = 32;
static readonly UInt32 SWP_SHOWWINDOW = 64;
static readonly UInt32 SWP_HIDEWINDOW = 128;
static readonly UInt32 SWP_NOCOPYBITS = 256;
static readonly UInt32 SWP_NOOWNERZORDER = 512;
static readonly UInt32 SWP_NOSENDCHANGING = 1024;
static readonly Int32 WM_CLOSE = 0xF060;
static readonly Int32 WM_QUIT = 0x0012;

private IntPtr GEHrender = (IntPtr)0;
private IntPtr GEParentHrender = (IntPtr)0;

internal const int
WS_CHILD = 0x40000000,
WS_VISIBLE = 0x10000000,
LBS_NOTIFY = 0x00000001,
HOST_ID = 0x00000002,
LISTBOX_ID = 0x00000001,
WS_VSCROLL = 0x00200000,
WS_BORDER = 0x00800000;



public ApplicationGEClass googleEarth;

protected override HandleRef BuildWindowCore(HandleRef hwndParent)
{

// start google earth
googleEarth = new ApplicationGEClass();

int ge = googleEarth.GetRenderHwnd();

IntPtr hwndControl = IntPtr.Zero;
IntPtr hwndHost = IntPtr.Zero;
int hostHeight = 200;
int hostWidth = 300;

// create a host window that is a child of this HwndHost. I'll plug this HwndHost class as a child of
// a border element in my WPF app,

hwndHost = CreateWindowEx(0, "static", "",
WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE,
0, 0,
hostHeight, hostWidth,
hwndParent.Handle,
(IntPtr)HOST_ID,
IntPtr.Zero,
0);


// set the parent of the Google Earth window to be the host I created here
int oldPar = SetParent(ge, (int) hwndHost);
// check to see if I'm now a child, for my own amusement
if (IsChild(hwndHost.ToInt32(), ge)) {
System.Console.WriteLine("now a child");
}

// return a ref to the hwndHost, which should now be the parent of the google earth window
return new HandleRef(this, hwndHost);
}

protected override void DestroyWindowCore(HandleRef hwnd)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
}



The main window of my WPF app, in its constructor for the Window, just plugs this HwndHost as a child of a Border control:

public Window1()
{

InitializeComponent();
MyHwndHost hwndHost = new MyHwndHost();
border1.Child = hwndHost;


}


And you are off to the races! I found a lot of different approaches to this all over the web, but none of them seemed to work, as is often the case. Maybe this will work for you, or maybe it adds to the confusion.

UPDATE: can't run more than one Google Earth, so it's a bust, but still has use in my InfoMesa/Collage project. I wonder about Virtual Earth?

Building the 'web of things' means breaking some eggs

I've been writing a lot about the 3D web lately, and I'm still pretty jazzed about what I've seen. Part of the appeal is the way that environments like Second Life serve as a metaphor for the merging of the physical and virtual worlds that is taking place all around us.

Anyhow, way back in the day, I was writing here about the next web, or Web3.0, or whatever you want to call it. Back in those old days, about 12 months ago, I was really thinking more about the new web, and the mobile web, like in this dusty old post. Someone had already fronted Mobile2.0 as a variant of Web3.0, in the confusing cloud of infotech talking heads.

Anyhow, one barrier to 'Mobile2.0' is the fact that networks and devices can't be ubiquitous if you can't get your cell phone to run an app or use the network you want, witness the entire iPhone hacking phenomenon. The subtext of the whole Google Android platform seems to be an attempt to smash through the walled gardens that are your typical telecom, witness the mission of the Open Handset Alliance. Anyhow, the actions of Google, and the recent announcement by Verizon that they are going to open their platform to any app and any service hint at the cracks that are appearing in the walled gardens. Does this hint at a new wave of innovation driven by the availability of an open platform? I'd think so, but at any rate, changes in the mobile space are coming, and they'll contribute to the next 'version' of the web!

Google Developer Days video streams

YouTube has a wealth of info from the recent Google developer days (gears, mash-up, etc). Worth a look on a slow day.

Google Gears

This was touted as Google going straight at Microsoft. A framework for going off-line with on-line apps, called Google Gears. It appears that Google Reader and other apps are going to be outfitted with this capability, which is very cool.

One of the most frequently requested features for Google's web applications is the ability to use them offline. Unfortunately, today's web browsers lack some fundamental building blocks necessary to make offline web applications a reality. In other words, we found we needed to add a few new gears to the web machinery before we could get our apps to run offline. Gears is a browser extension that we hope -- with time and plenty of input and collaboration from outside of Google -- can make not just our applications but everyone's applications work offline.

Too many irons in the fire to play with this now, but I'll file it away, sort of today's mini-buzz after yesterday's MSoft Surface Computer wave. I'm also catching that people are complaining about the Google Street View, check out Boing Boing for the blowback on that!

update: Here's another article on Gears.

Google street view

Just go here...it's amazing. Alas, Franklin Street not available...