For a long time I have believed that the Internet could be the single biggest tool for world peace ever. By bringing people together and allowing them to share common experiences and interact in a person to person environment, the Internet is a great equalizer. This view was reinforced for me today when I read the story of G.hos.st in the NY Times. G.hos.st is a free web based virtual computer that gives you storage, email and applications available anywhere. I have just signed up for an account, so will have to tell you about how it works later.

The thing about G.hos.st for me is that it is a joint Israeli-Palestinian venture with workers from both people working together. What a surprising and great idea. What better way to bring these people together than to make them both shareholders in a joint venture and let them work together. The article talks about some of the experiences of the workers who meet sometimes in person in Israel, sometimes in a no mans land near Jericho and sometimes have to have video conferencing. But the important thing is they are working together. Can you imagine if there was more of this joint commerce taking place? It can't help but make people more trusting, knock down the barriers of ignorance and prejudice and make the world a better and safer place for all of us.

I signed up for the service just to show my support for this type of change the world initiative. If you agree with me that this is just the kind of medicine this world needs, why don't you take a moment and sign up for an account as well!