This week one of the columns I'm making available to CBC radio stations talks about the decline in PC sales and the direction Microsoft and Intel plan to take in the future.
Over the past several months I've had a number of columns that looked at how some of these trends combine to give us a sense of what the short and medium term futures may look like. Ubiquitous network connectivity and a blending of the real and virtual as our lives are constantly surrounded by screens.
Microsoft has now come out with their own vision of the future, explicitly a decade from now in 2019, and it includes a lot of tactile media on super thin displays. While we take for granted the marketing intent of such a vision, I can't help but notice the monopoly the company envisions for 2019 is far more pervasive than the one they had in 1999.
Let the government release this...
Nice video.
But haven't many governments already developed & deployed technology like this?
Only, they're using it in elite arenas such as security & planning.
So why let Microsoft develop this monopoly in hardware (which is what the video is promoting)?
If the tech already exists, governments could simply adapt it for civilian purposes. Then release it to schools, homes, & hospitals. It would be much more accessible, open, & cheaper than anything by Microsoft.
I keep hearing that it's okay to lose manufacturing.
That our advantage needs to be in information technology.
Yet, because of private sector inefficiencies, we're lagging behind.
We pay high amounts for slow, capped & throttled internet.
We pay high amounts for the various software needed to learn & work.
We pay high amounts to simply read, due to ridiculous copyright laws.
We pay high amounts for hardware, having our best technology reserved for rich video gamers.
Yeah...letting a stagnant inefficient dinosaur like Microsoft handle this will really help advance our civilization.
Post new comment