Internet-based Workflows: A Paradigm For Dynamically Reconfigurable Desktop Environments

The Internet-based desktop environment as defined in this paper consists of a cross-platform browser, a number of server icons (host nodes), a number of application icons (program nodes) and a number of data icons (file nodes). In contrast to typical desktops of today, where data icons may be dragged and dropped onto application icons for execution, this environment allows (1) user-defined and reconfigurable execution sequences by creating dependency edges between program nodes (application icons) and file nodes (data icons); (2) data-dependent execution sequences by dynamic scheduling of path as well as loop executions; (3) host-transparency as to the location of applications and data (both can reside on any host with a unique IP address). We demonstrate that the Internet-based workflow paradigm is suitable for creation of dynamically reconfigurable desktop environments. In related research, we show that the proposed desktop is particularly suitable for making such an environment coll..