> From: Dave Crocker <dhc@xxxxxxxxxxxx> > Except that essentially all services other than email have gained > popularity in centralized form, including IM. So there appear to be > some important and difficult operational and usability barriers, > standing in the way of more truly distributed applications. Yes. $$$. Nobody makes much/any money off email because it is so de-centralized. People who build wonderful new applications build them in a centralized way so that they can control them. And they want to control them so that they can monetize them. Noel