http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdExukJVUGI

since apple announced the ipad, it seems more and more we are heading for a SR way of things.

basically, ever since SR1 there have been a way to embed attack code inside what at first glance appears to be pure data files. That would be the equivalent of embedding a virus inside a txt file.

but what if, in the SR time line, even the lowly email is a "app"? Sure, the thought can bring a IT security person to tears, but that may not stop it from happening. For one thing, DRM, while not stopping a shadowrunner for even a second, is probably embedded into the very fabric of the matrix. So each piece of data carries its own bit of code that verifies the reader and the readers hardware before allowing access to its internals. And also, as seen in the video above, even the lowliest of communications or information have been turned into a multimedia extravaganza. A cookbook that verbally and visually explain each step in the process. A email thats a presentation with audio narration. And all embedded in its own playback code, so that at no time do people need to have extra software on hand to play it back. they just need to open the "file".

That isn't much of a stretch from today. Right now many email have embedded markup. Basically each "app" like you mentioned will run within a spawned engine that will have security settings controlling which functional is enabled, (like how you browser controls can turn off javascript, active x, override styles etc) Won't be much more of a nightmare ... just everything scales up, more processing power, but you also have more potential to work with.

It is a bit of a pain like that, but remember that also the matrix is NOT the internet, commlinks and decks are NOT computers, and hackers and deckers are NO computer users, despite the computer skills. There are significant differences in how the whole system functions, and that's not bringing TM's and Otaku into the mix. whlie it seems like everything would be unwieldy, things wouldn't be all thatbad, if only because additionally many things (like word processors, paint, etc.) would all fit into the realm of "Edit", and so on, limiting the number of programs you really need.

only that the matrix do not have such a spawned engine (outside of the asist interface that is), everything brings its own engine. And that means you can only disable what said engine allows to be disabled.

my best guess on that is that SR tech took a step back to the commodore/appleII era, with its phone phreaks and BBSs. Heck, the more i read about it, the more the system of RTGs and LTGs sounds like how the US land line phone system worked and works, with the RTGs being the "baby bells", and the LTGs small community operators that piggy back on the "baby bells" for long distance connectivity.

and current SR is a bit like one took that concept and basically bolted municipal wifi/wimax on top of it. Only that thanks to the corp court and such, all sense of privacy have been tossed out the door (probably sold on promises of ever present security and medical to the sinners). Most probably carry around a rating 1 comlink that works like a AR terminal to the MSP services and the local ARO setups. Sure, there is the odd news about identity fraud (theft, while the common word, is incorrect). But if there is a big wave of it, the corp courts matrix division rolls out the big guns and performs a public witch hunt until either them or the shadows own takes care of the attention hound thats making life hard for everyone. Most often it will be a barrens kid that snoops some sinners ID, charges some expensive stuff to his account, that some insurance company or other corp entity then writes of and pays back to the guys account. If its a runners money that goes missing from some shadow bank account, said kid may well find himself with a bullet in the skull, unless said runner takes the kid under his wing as a partner in training.

It's interesting. I was explaining the Matrix in these terms way back before Unwired came out. I was actually irritated with some parts of Unwired as they seemed to be concessions to many "not getting it" and reverting the Matrix back to the model of the Internet and data files as just data files. There's an old thread around here about whether or not agents can run on one node whilst having a presence in another like a Persona does (I was arguing in the face of great outrage that they could - this was before Unwired clarified that they could) and I'm pretty sure I remember using the "everything is a program" metaphor. If you're interested, I wrote the below piece ages ago. I'm not sure when - definitely before Arsenal. It's not very good, but it's sort of in the area you're talking about.

History of the Matrix

The irony is that I actually know very little about computer programming, but maybe that was an advantage in conceptualising the Matrix - less baggage to get rid of. I've never had a problem with the way the Matrix works (though I despise Technomancers with a justifiable fury ). Anyway, I like your take on it. I'd extend it further and say that not only is everything a program, but it's almost everything is an operating system. After all, my website is now running on my mate's virtual machine. I can if I wish, take that "machine" and send it as a file to somewhere else, run it somewhere else. It's conceptually the same machine taking with it my database, its webserver software, configuration of what ports are open and closed, thus how it may and may not interact with everything else and what responses it will give. Is that very different from a software agent that can load and unload different programs into itself? A conceptual difference is that instead of talking about virtual machines running on different bits of hardware, the hardware is actually another level down still in the Matrix. You're talking about running your virtual machines on a layer that is itself an abstraction - removed from the actual hardware itself, cushioned by the System and Firewall and all the Node-y stuff that supports the agents and personas and data files that are really programs, etc. But beyond the Matrix being vastly more sophisticated, these two paradigms mesh very well. The average Matrix user in SR2072 doesn't think about where their files are stored or what format it is in. They probably think only in terms of access permissions and choice of interface.

K.

i think i have actually read that pdf before, but thanks for the link

and yes, envisioning agents as virtual machines that can move between nodes is a good metaphor. Heck, i recall watching a demo video of a VM setup for servers that allowed a VM of a webserver to move between two different physical servers running to very different operating systems when one of them went down for some reason. The big problem right now is the "dog brain", but i think microsoft have a fair bit or research in that area, as i recall them demoing a system that could look at incoming email and set up meeting schedules based on its content. And this was all learned behavior, in much the same way that a spam filter learns to separate spam from proper emails.

as for knowing nothing about computers, gibson wrote neuromancer based of a apple macintosh billboard ad, using a mechanical typewriter.

to speculate, back when echo mirage fought the crash worm, much of the asist interface issues was probably the reality filter, having to translate old school protocols into the vr interface they used. But since then i suspect more and more code is written in "pure" asist, or something thats easy to translate into asist.

i think it was once speculated that asist was the analog traffic of the brain, translated into digital, much like how a wav is a digital translation of the analog waveform of a recording. Meaning that a UV node have the computing power to present so fine grained a translation, that even the subconscious mind cant tell if its a recording or actual biofeedback. Your average node however will probably look and feel very real, but do not try, or bother with, overlaying all the biofeedback that a body has. This then probably result in something of a out of body experience, or a mismatch of signals between conscious and subconscious parts of the brain. Heck, that may even explain simsense vertigo, as vertigo matches nicely with motion sickness. End result is that one part of your brain think you should be stationary, while another reports movement, and your body reacts as if your ill (not surprising, as loss of balance is often a sign of something being badly wrong).

in the end, one can use concepts from real life computing. This as long as one look at it more in terms of ideal concepts, rather then trying to map it 1 to 1 vs real life implementations.

I think you're right about this. It seems like most of the threads I've seen complaining about the Matrix rules are loaded with people who work in IT or CS (we certainly have a lot of those around here).

most of the threads complaining about unrealism in SR comes from people with real life knowledge i some field.