Those of you that have ever talked to me about technology know my opinion on where computing is going. What my position is is that from a software/OS point of view we will no longer be bound to a “computer” but simply log in to “virtual” machines from any machine connected to the internet. This will be enabled by the fact that Gigabit networks will be in place as well as (much faster) WiFi and display technologies much cheaper and more pliable. This will start off with us accessing our own hardware from afar (already starting with the new windows Home Server platform/hardware), but eventually we will just pay for server space somewhere instead of buying hardware. Our monitors at home will simply connect to the internet to stream “our” content off of the server somewhere else. This concept is already in place on a small scale with home networking of multimedia hardware.
Within ten years we’ll have access to our personal information no matter where we are in the (1st) world. Display panels will be so thin and flexible we could have them drop down and cover entire walls (or be the wall itself) – or simply be stretched in a concave fashion from each side of our peripheral vision to the other. Cell phones as we know them may become obsolete as any public place will be able to transmit information (visual as well as audio) to any other. Cell phones may resort to high-tech beepers enabling you to take the call (whole phone will clip onto your ear) or go to the nearest monitor station to see the person and receive the call over the internet. Most of the functions of the current hardware would be replaced by software accessed through biometric security at public or home display systems.
I could go on all day about this stuff – but I recently ran across a newsweek article that validates these thoughts as Bill Gates is planning to integrate these ideas into Windows version 7 (due out in 2010). Read on:
“We can use Live Services to know what you’re interested in. So even if you drop by a [public] kiosk or somebody else’s PC, we can bring down your home page, your files, your fonts, your favorites and those things. So that’s kind of the user-centric thing that Live Services can enable. [Also,] in Vista, things got a lot better with [digital] ink and speech, but by the next release there will be a much bigger bet.”[i][/i]
