On the average day, how often do you copy something from one location/application and paste it into a different location/application?
For my part the copy (ctrl-insert for we left handers or ctrl-c for the others) paste (shift-insert or ctrl-v) key combination have moved to the level of unconscious behavior. My fingers just do what I want. Have information you need in a few Excel cells - cut and paste it into word. Have a table returned from a SQL query in Access or SQL-Server - cut and paste it into an Outlook email message.
Ray Ozzie, the creator of Lotus Notes, Groove, and now CTO at Microsoft got to thinking about the power inherent in copying/pasting structured data from one application into another. His question - Why not do the same thing on the web? In a blog post called Wiring the Web Ozzie answers that question with a flourish describing and demonstrating a new clipboard called Live clipboard. The samples demonstrate the ability to copy and paste structured data (think contact information and calendar events) from
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one place on a web page to another
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one web site to another
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a web site to a Windows application
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a Windows application to a web site
Even more importantly he demonstrates how this technology allows users to create mash-ups from various locations to make new information available.
This approach is cross browser compatible using JavaScript, CSS, and XML to work its magic. Most interestingly, and perhaps importantly, Microsoft has licensed this under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License so that others can freely use and build upon this innovative work. But don't stop with my work, check it out.
licensed under the Creative Commons */
/* Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.