What CouchDB brings to HTML5

CouchApps are the product of an HTML5 browser and a CouchDB instance. Their key advantage is portability, based on the ubiquity of the html5 platform. Features like Web Workers and cross-domain XHR really make a huge difference in the fabric of the web. Their availability on every platform is key to the future of the web.

Because CouchDB is aimed squarely at the line between the desktop and the cloud, Couch disrupts a lot of the web-physics we're accustomed too. There will be new applications, but also new security concerns. I think the biggest change will be in our perception of privacy.

In a CouchDB-enabled web, data-flows don't have to be centralized, which means friends can communicate without going through a fixed domain. This makes the web more efficient. It also means I can make data available to my social network without relying on 3rd-party services.

I think what we perceive as changes, are actually a conservation of the original values of the web, when it was common that everyone would run their own websites, owning their own content. That's why I think it's important that CouchDB-style replication be part of the HTML5 standard.