Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook Talking technology, computers, and the Internet… for the average computer user

I found this post at Digital Inspiration about turning your home computer into a web server, and it just BLOWS MY MIND. The possibilities are endless! No longer would I need to pay for a web host for my blogs! No longer would I need to pay Flickr to host my web photos! All my videos and music would be accessible to whomever I wanted! Wow, I would LOVE to be an independent web host!!

It’s through something called Opera Unite. I’ve given glowing reviews of the Opera browser before– I think this company is on the cutting edge, and their Opera Unite proves it. This is from their site:

Opera Unite is a collaborative technology that allows you to share data, such as files or photos, directly from your computer with others, without uploading and sharing them through a central, third-party server. The technology behind Opera Unite uses a compact server inside the Opera desktop browser to share data and services on your computer. There is no need to upload files that you want to share; you remain in control.

With more traditional content sharing, you need to upload the content you want to share, and this is shared through a central, third-party server, out of your control. Opera Unite enables your browser to act as a server, and you can choose what content you share and with whom.

Opera Unite uses, as its base, collaborative technology that acts like a compact server on your browser. Rather than store the content on a third-party server, as in the traditional data-sharing model, the content remains on your computer; your friends communicate with your computer using local connections, or, if this is not available, some server-side Opera technology will aid in establishing a connection. Access to your content is provided and controlled by the Opera Unite services that you select. These services are small, Web-service programs running inside your browser. There are different Opera Unite services for sharing different types of content on your computer or for collaborating. These services give you full control over what you share and with whom, without the need to upload.

I am definitely looking into this; this is just AMAZING. my only concern is bandwidth usage. I mean, hosting one’s own blogs on a web server eats up a good chunk of bandwidth and CPU, doesn’t it? I don’t think my ISP would be too happy to suddenly see my connection usage increase 2000%, would they? But I could perhaps get a dedicated Internet line that could handle that kind of traffic. I pay upwards of $300 a year for all sorts of web hosting, photo and video accounts, etc etc…. I could save all that money by hosting my stuff myself and use that money to pay for the new Internet connection (I think). I’m going to have to do more research into this. It’s pretty exciting!