Discussion on:

Microsoft predicts the future - without laptops (photos)

On my W7 pro install when I press Shift+Ctrl+Delete I get the Delete Browsing History options box. Ctrl+Alt+Delete has always been how you end a crashed process or applacation.

Hold the power switch for 5 seconds to turn of the pc without unplugging.

I only have 1 hand, I never was able to do it on my own, had to get help.... where are the handicapped advocates?????

I know many of you will say "We crossed that line a long time ago!". But where are we going to draw the line of what is private and what is not? This isn't the MS world you are talking about it is the technology world, with or without MS. When we go to that hotel, will they also select our room for us based on what we can afford because they know our bank account balance, credit rating, and amount of debt we have? Can you please not put me in a room next to the guy that snores so loud that I can hear it through the walls?! (or any other personal activities that keeps me from sleeping)

I am a researcher and often I use my laptop to write software and scientific paper. I use keyboards since I was 14 (I have an ugly handwriting and now, when I am on a train, I can continue writing a paper while looking out of the window to check the current station. Physical, touch based, feedback is very important for me and I strongly doubt that the fake keyboard on the tablet screen could give me that. (Acoustic feedback can be nice, but I fear that it cannot replace the touch feedback of a real keyboard). You can write e-mail all right, but what about a many-page long research report?

Cyber Crime, Espionoge, War!
In this type of integrated network cyber incedents would be truly dangerous, and perhaps crime and war would damage and kill. Thats great Microsoft, we are not personal anymore.

Interesting. I hope they continue to develop this idea. My first thought, though, was what about people who don't or won't wear glasses, or who can't afford expensive glasses and computers, but can use public computers? My second thought, almost immediately, was Carl Reiner's character in *The Jerk*. While these glasses likely won't cause cross-eyedness, like the glasses in that movie, it will be interesting to see what unintended effects these will have.

Another thought, being a person who wears glasses that are never exactly where they need to be and I keep having to pushing them back up, it might be difficult (but not impossible) to design these so that the image location self-adjusts (without causing motion sickness). Also, what about people who wear bi-focals or tri-focals?

Hmmm. Sorry Gates, Jobs beat you to your revelation YEARS ago. More Linux, less Microsoft, a better world without bloatware. Speaking of bloatware, I wonder how Microsoft will manage to get its super-sized apps onto a mobile device.

But what else could expected from Microsoft, couldn't be?

It's appropriate that the stock photo with this article is someone wearing glasses, because where future "vision" is concerned, Microsoft's track record isn't all that good.

Microsoft is always good at promising things, but poor on delivery. How does all the individual information, and personal data they envision sloshing around in theior perfect world get protected against all the data theft just around today? Are the bad guys banned from MS's secret universe? Hello? reality check here.....

I saw a demo that Microsoft was developing this technology but i think these guys have a better Idea,
http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/
imagine if they can shrink it to the size of a button or a pin.

In the video you see a girl with a tablet that is on a table. My thought is make the Table the compuer?

Modern lifts tell you what floor you are on. How about one that listens to you and takes you to the requested floor?
As far as MS goes. Shows like Start Trek, SF movies and books were "predicting" these technologies years ago. The suits at MS must have had fun watching old movies and reading old books.
The Communicator in Start Trek - hot damn we call it a mobile phone!

The Gates' home incorporated much of this stuff when it was built...what...? 15? 20 years ago? and his first book 20 years ago established the technical vision that laid out the groundwork for the technology we enjoy today... but, the whole big brother concept freaks me out...

When I was a child we believed everyone would one day benefit from technological advances. We imagined a George Jetson-like world, where everyone had flying cars, computers were ubiquitous, and when you wanted something you just spoke it and slave machines would obey. However, the only people who will benefit from this kind of technology will be the filthy rich, 0.1% of the population who steals all this from us because they can. Human nature is such that, unless prevented, the haves will always take from the have nots. The way the world is going today, the average American will be lucky to own an old laptop in 10 years. Yes, this vision will probably be true for the super mega-rich, but apparently the people at Microsoft have blinders on, because the 99.9% will only see it on their televisions when they watch the future version of "LIves of the Rich and Famous."

http://www.tpteq.com

so what will the future be with.. guess our minds then we will be able to access the internet and all sort of infos with our minds

The article says, "Much of the video is based on the idea that powerful computers will be embedded in the world around us."

An old friend of mine had a plaque on his office wall that said, "Never Trust A Computer That You Can't Carry With You." I'm kind of inclined to agree with him. Given the rampant and increasing government intrusions into our lives via cell phone tower hacking, computer hacking, and generally illegal gathering of information about us and our lives, I am NOT willing to put all that information on a central computer that can - and will - be easily compromised by "Big Brother", our new governmental overlord.

You can't trust them.

This may sound appealing to those who line up for the latest igadget and spend "quality time" with their kids by yakking on and poking at their phones, but this sounds to me like another pointless waste of energy. Give people LESS to do, so they can get even fatter? They can't even find their own TV channel or brew a cup of coffee? Perhaps they can just sit in a comfortable, heated chair with video glasses, headphones and smellavision and they don't even have to actually go anywhere.

Life is about doing things and meeting challenges, and that includes the mundane tasks that often bring us new experiences every day. It's not about becoming a nation of lardbutts who can't even manage the basic details and tasks of everyday life. Think all this gadgetry and simplification will free us up for more "important" tasks? Just look at how much smartphones have done that...people walking around buried in their screens, or thinking they have to be talking remotely to someone 24/7, oblivious and unaware of their surroundings and real life in general.

I hope we get to see that technological world. With Iran developing nukes, and practicing low precision launches from cargo ships, I'd hang on to all my wind-up stuff for now. A car made using a distributor with points would also be good.

It would be mighty embarrassing if every time you walked into a room, with your wife and kids, the TV switched to the porn channel, and try explaining to your boss why the tablet lying over there all of sudden is full of pornhub files. Sorry, but personal laptops (or something like them) will still be used in the future. And as other said, maybe MS needs to work on making things work in the present first.

And that embedded world will be powered by Linux!!!

matters of importance will be handled by Windows or whatever Microsoft has going for it at that moment.

I remember helping a grad student back in the mid 1990s configure a LAN with linux machines and access to the internet through a Linux server with DHCP and NAT. At the time Windows did not even have its own TCP/IP stack.
I also remember that Linux used a fixed device for the infrared port on laptops. Microsoft would create a virtual COM or virtual LPT port which would not stay constant across reboots. Sometimes you would get COM3, sometimes COM5, sometimes COM4, etc. requiring reconfigration of your printer after each reboot. It wasn't until win2k that MS wised up and made it a fixed device. In the future MS will be doing the same as it is doing now - playing "catch up".

As nice as this seems, the way they think it will happen won't. That future conversation --

[Hotel IT Guy] So how much will this hotel upgrade cost me? Round numbers.
[MS Tam] $100k a room, time 500 rooms, about $5m. Of course you will need to have the CALs for 7 billion people @ $25 per, you never know who will walk in the door, eh, that's $175Bn. Oh and the TV, alarm clock and coffee maker are all 8 core processors @ $750 per core for 500 rooms, that's $9m. Rough total -- $180Bn
[long pause]
[MS Tam] Do you want extended service support with this order?

Given this reality, there will be no more private world.
If there will be machines keeping all data about me and the vast majority of people around the world, we will all be transparent to those who control it.
We should have faith in something that no technology can guarantee a day that works perfectly.
We'll have to trust the honesty and good will of each one of us.

Sounds like a very easy way to monitor all your movements and activity. I can see them trying to push mandatory RFID implantation which will be "for your own good".

I'm amazed how people forget that it's only less than 10 years ago we didn't have smart phones. Phones were phones and apps were on computers. Browsing the internet on a cell phone was ridiculous! We've come a long way Baby, and the dinos are falling by the wayside, fast. I can see MS vision becoming a reality, but of course with some modification along the way. For one, I can see a lot of issues with security and privacy, and don't forget the accidental downloading/uploading/transferring/sharing of your info due to shaky or sticky fingers People who've gotten used to the screen keypads will be crying foul this time around! It will be here before you know it and even myself, already in my 60's, I'm worried having to contend with this "new" technology because the fingers are no longer what they used to be. Well, I guess I have to live or die with it. Just two cents worth from an old fart.

What about when two or more people are in the room. Obviously my wife trumps me but do I get to trump anyone?

Microsoft has brought us many great things over the years and some that are not so great. I just don't buy into the "nirvana" being presented here. I watched both videos, the one from last year and the one from this year to see what has changed. It's going to take more than Microsoft to make this stuff happen.

Some of the technologies presented in the videos MS has been working on for years in Seattle, the smart walls in the house for example; I'm still hanging pictures on mine - not communicating with my wife or checking for recipes for my daughters bake sale. 10 years is just too short of a window for these technologies to be implemented, give it 20 maybe and then we'll see where we are.

Okay lets put on the glasses and be looking at images or maybe a movie or a spreadsheet while driving down the road. yes! We need another distraction to kill or be killed

sounds a lot like the predictions that predicated the Jetson's cartoon....I still kinda feel that soon enough the elecricity will go out forever, but thats me just me being a little paranoid. Peace

The more computers do for us, the dumber we grow as a species. Until the day a computer is self aware and realize that it does not need us.

Seriously, all our information over the net? A paradise for identity theft and marketeers. Where you stop being a human and only be a consumer. Just remember to slave yourself to buy all the things you do not need but marketeers tell you every day to buy.

Conspicuously missing in not only this article, but also in almost all the hype about Windows-8:
Where are the provisions for keyboard data entry? Touchy-feeling screens don't do it.
If voice enabled, how can one correct errors?
If voice enabled, how will microphone distinguish owner's voice from all the surrounding voice noise?

Who would design an "advanced" eye ware that put status messages on the frames at a location that the wearer cannot see? "Translating" indeed. Useless.

This whole "vision" is more of an hallucination. I cannot envision an environment more ripe for massive government invasion of privacy than what is in Microsoft's "future". It might be OK for their business in China, which tries to monitor and control all aspects of their citizens lives, but not in a free society where the government is given limited power by the people, not the other way around. Already the US government is stepping wholesale on the privacy rights of people and has shredded the Bill of Rights, which you'll quickly learn if you are ever the recipient of a National Security Letter.

Putting the perils of government abuse aside, I cannot envision people or corporations who have critical data, and want to keep it secure, putting it on cloud servers that would be administered by the cheapest labor, which is always ends up being in countries run by tyrants who treat their citizens as slaves. If they own the hardware they own the data that is on it. The US IRS will not allow the data they send out to the state governments to reside on a computer connected to either the Internet or a LAN. If a person even walked past my office while I had IRS data displayed on the screen I had to keep a log of what was on the screen, who walked by, and the time. Corporations with trade secrets who want to keep them secret would be wise to emulate such "paranoia", especially if they use Windows as their OS.

The modern day 3.1 GHz multi-core CPU notebook with a 16" screen, fast video chip and 4 or more GB of RAM working into a 300 GB HD represents the zenith of both corporate and personal computing. I've been using a PC since 1978, when I purchased an Apple ][+. Today I am using a netbook in which the CPU is 3,000 times faster, there is 60,000 time more RAM, my network bandwidth is 12,000 times wider, and my storage medium has a million times the capacity. My two printers are lasers, one a duplex. And, this notebook uses only 70 watts of power. Not only that, the Kubuntu Lucid KDE 4.5.3 desktop I am running is the most powerful and easy to use desktop ever made, except for the KDE 4.7 desktop running on a guest OS in VirtualBox. I run SAGE, the second most powerful math engine ever made, and it is free. So are FireFox, LibreOffice, GIMP, Blender, VLC, BibleTime and a host of other excellent and free GPL software. Also on this notebook is the Qt4 SDK, the most feature rich and powerful cross-platform development tool ever made.

I was given an Apple iPod 4 Touch for Christmas last year. I quickly found out that without a wifi connection to the web it has limited use for me. I was surprised to learn how few free access wifi hotspots there are, and without an Apple or Windows PC my iPod cannot be updated nor can files be moved on or off of it. Playing Angry Birds eats the battery up in around two hours. Leaving the wifi on kills it in around five hours. The battery is guaranteed to stay above the 50% level for only 200 recharges, and to replace a worn out battery I have to send it to Apple along with $139. I thought about switching from an iPod to Android and the 3G or 4G network, but telco greed demanding $80/10GB/Month plus $10 for every GB over 10 put an end to that idea.

In fact, the fly in Microsoft's ointment of the future will probably be the greed of the telcos controlling the cell towers by making certain network packets "artificially scarce", i.e. more expensive, to maximize what they can charge the consumer. My son and his wife already pay close to $200/mo for 200 channels of cable TV, a 10Mb/s Internet connection, and a VOIP cell phone. The same plan in France costs $40/mo and with unlimited 24/7/365 calling.

One thing Microsoft has right is the penchant for the consumer to want instant-everything. The more automated, the better. Those of us who can afford it will want it.

Lately, Microsoft has gravitated more toward Apple in terms of standardization - which all of these innovative ideas will require. They may even need to lock down some stuff, like Apple does, in order to ensure robustness.

Apple would do well to provide some sort of visioning too - but don't count on it. They hit the jackpot with the iPad but in a few years time folk will be asking "what have you done for me lately?"

Microsoft should start by attempting a small project, like organizing a company trip to the bathroom. If that is successful, maybe then they could attempt to make better software.

After that, who knows?

But this vision is way out of their league. It's a nice dream though.

I love the idea of walking into a room and having all my personal preferences acted upon by every device in the room from environmental to media but there???s a very real danger with this personalized & automated future; no privacy or anonymity . We???ve already seen how criminals can destroy people???s lives with just a few key pieces of data (social security number + birthdate) and how corporations like advertisers can formulate a very accurate profile of a user through analyzing their browsing history. Just imagine what government could do with the level of information that would be required for devices to ???know??? and ???automatically respond??? to individual users.

I???m not talking about personal devices, computerized smart systems in your home but public area devices as well as a commuting locations (trains, busses, planes) and accommodations (hotels, resorts) . If you give out detailed personal preference???s about yourself so that public devices can respond to your personal desires you open a potential Pandora???s box that cannot be closed again. It???s like what happens when you upload a video now out of some emotional stint (i.e. being anger at a former spouse) only to wish at a later time you could undo it but can???t, ever.

You can call it being paranoid if you like but until a method is devised that allows these smart devices to know you without knowing you so they can still respond to your needs and desires without having those same desires cataloged and associated with your real world identity then this kind of potential future needs to remain in the future.

Presumably my preferences will be held in "the cloud" by Microsoft or Google or some other similarly philanthropic organization who will deluge me with adverts "tailored to my preferences " all for free.

No thanks!

I'm old enough to remember the '60s when the "experts" told us that Atomic energy would be "the power too cheap to meter" - there would be so much energy we would never be able to use all of it, and it would be so inexpensive to produce that electric meters would become a thing of the past.

Now the "experts" at MS are telling us that the laptop will disappear.

I'll believe it when it happens, and I don't think I'll live that long - nor will anyone else.

Constant inundation of marketing and propaganda. No thanks. I like technology as a tool to help me on request. I do not want to live in a virtual reality world that automatically reacts to my presence in any location. Neo! Help!!