In [Part I](http://www.nivi.com/blog/article/rss-is-the-tcpip-packet-of-web-20/) of this smashing series, I hypothesized that RSS (or Atom) is the TCP/IP of Web 2.0.
So, what will Web 2.0 or the magnificent Internet Operating System look like? It might look like [YubNub](http://yubnub.org/).
> __YubNub is an outsourced OS.__ YubNub is an operating system web service. YubNub is a web service for developing web services.
How so? __First, YubNub is a command line for the web.__
> Want to do a google search for chocolate? Type _g chocolate_ into YubNub.
> Want the weather for your zipcode? Type _weather 90210_.
> Want a number between 1 and 100? Type _random 100_.
You can learn more about what YubNub can do by looking at its most popular commands, its [Golden Eggs](http://yubnub.org/kernel/golden_eggs?args=).
__Next, YubNub will let you chain commands together to create complex programs.__ A _pipe_ takes the output of one YubNub command and pipes it into the input of another command.
> Type _g nivi | rss_ if you want to do a Google search on “nivi” and turn the results into an RSS feed.
> Type _g nivi | japanese | rss_ if you want to translate the Google results into Japanese first.
The “|” symbol is called a pipe. Pipes are a simple way to build powerful programs by chaining commands together.
__Finally, you outsource your OS to the YubNub web service.__ After implementing pipes, YubNub should create an environment to run arbitrarily complex scripts that can interact with web services to do something useful. As more complex scripts become available on YubNub (web browsers?, word processors?, iTunes?), you will rely less on your desktop computer and more on the services that YubNub provides.
__Outsourcing your OS to YubNub gives you all of the advantages of outsourcing your sales management to [Salesforce.com](http://www.salesforce.com).__ Yes, you _could_ write a complex script that runs on your personal computer and interacts with a slew of web services to do something cool. _Or_ you could have YubNub run the script for you. With YubNub, you don’t need to worry about what version of [LAMP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP) you are running, compatibility between the components in LAMP, applying security upgrades, applying bug fixes, and so on.
__YubNub will manage the execution environment for your web service just like Salesforce.com manages your sales software for you.__
Baby, your operating system is being outsourced.
This series is continued in Part [3](http://www.nivi.com/blog/article/rss-is-an-api-for-content/).
Great post, Nivi. If YubNub is the command line for the web, is the next logical step in the progression a Graphical User Interface for the Internet Operating System? ~ dhb
There are a few other sites that do about the same thing as Yubnub. Do a Google on Dozomo, Google command line, and Ambedo to find them. Anyway, I’ve been working on Ambedo for a while and here is how it is different from Yubnub:
Everyone has their own “tagspace”. This means users can have their own tags and decide for themselves what a certain tag should do. So you basically avoid collisions. Still though there is a directory where you can share your tags and also import someone elses. With your own tagspace you can also use it for bookmarks stored on Ambedo. These can then handle things like logins or other repetitive tasks which you easily can access through a customized url.
It is based entirely client side – all your tags are loaded immediately in compact JS. With this it is very easy to see exactly what is going to happen before you hit enter.
There are features other than tags/commands. There is a built-in calculator and also detects patterns such as urls, isbns, domains, ip addresses etc. This makes it handy for most day to day tasks for me at least. I can type almost anything I want and get it done immediately with Ambedo.
Wow, Nivi, I’m glad that you are delighted with YubNub. Hooray!
I’ll give you a YUBNUB.
TCP/IP is event-driven. RSS is pub-sub. I don’t think we have the web’d TCP/IP yet.
YubNub is a Unix-like web OS, that is a good platform for Post-Modern Programming.