For the user who has Unix at work, Mac at home, and Windows 95 somewhere else, a new software tool seeks to greet him with the same desktop - and the same state of software affairs - every time he logs on, no matter where he boots up.
Next month, software start-up Plenium will release NetDesk, a Java-based GUI environment that preserves the state of a user's work across different Java-compatible machines.
Working via a session file which must be transferred between machines (by floppy disk, a central server, or file transfer), the software will work atop a client computer's native desktop, offering a choice of interchangeable desktop layouts that can take on the appearance of Windows 95, Unix CDE, Macintosh, and other platforms.
If the user is running a group of applications and associated tasks on one machine - using a spreadsheet, performing an FTP download, and drafting email, for example - she can pick up exactly where she left off when she resumes her session elsewhere.
While the concept is promising, however, there's one catch - NetDesk only performs its magic with Java-based applications. Because robust and useful Java apps are still scarce, Plenium includes its own basic email and browser applications along with NetDesk.
NetDesk saves work in such applications wile in mid-session, letting the user resume the work on the second machine - where the spreadsheet, incoming mail, or FTP download, will all be in the same state they were last saved in.
But until Java applications become commonplace, NetDesk is more of a product for a Java future, poised to give such apps a common environment, as company president Adam Allard explained.
The software will initially be offered free via the company's Web site.
