As some of you know, I tend to be a fan of mobile web servers. There are a number of them out there, and personally I use Nokia's MWS with pretty much any Symbian S60 device that gets in my hands. I feel that *being* the web is just as important as browsing it.

So there's this new product called Opera Unite. Basically, its a browser that is also a web server. Essentially, making the browser a nice two-lane highway for sharing, colaboration, and pretty much anything else that you can think of.

And given the AJAX (HTML, CSS, JS, SVG) framework, this takes what Opera has already done with widgets and pushes it even further.

So it had me thinking, This would be perfect for the IT (especially if the IT could stay charged all day while connected via Wi-Fi). Essentially one could turn their IT into a destination point on the Web, and then with context-sensitive applications, one could really engage into some neat mobile experiences.

An IT user could essentially "be the web."

Totally cool don't you think (if Unite or another MWS comes along); and as far as I can tell, this is the future of the web that isn't 3rd party services oriented. Which is also a good thing

... i don't wanna be a series of tubes and pipes...

Essentially its not a web server, but an Opera provided service. You have to go through their servers to get to your information. No thanks.

And Opera widgets are utterly useless...

We have been experimenting with a web server + framework + browser combo in the Midgard App Builder project.

Considered that midgard2 already works on Fremantle, I think a mobile web server using that and MidCOM3 can't be far. And then you can have a local server that replicates.

Opera widgets are useful indeed. I.e. do I use a ruler one all the time, which helps me tweak the heights and widths of web page elements when I develop.

Thanks for this; I didn't know about this project. I'll be adding my eyes to it.

I'd love to have Unite on my N810 (mostly because then I'd have Opera too! )

I'm curious, what is the advantage of having a web server on your mobile device (other than offline browsing or web development)? What advantage is there to this over a client-only setup? Why do you need the two-lane highway?

Hmm, thinking about it... If you have a service to share, such as a webcam, a web server can act as a GUI...

What else?

I wrote an (admitably, simple) Python-based webserver for Quick Clip (0.5.0, not released yet) to allow you to browse your files from anywhere

I'm a step ahead of Opera, I tell ya

Given that there is already a port of Apache out there, I don't get it. I've had people connect to my tablet and see my camera. It was fun for a minute. Then the battery died.