One look at the future of computing from Microsoft, circa 2018-2023

 

Here's a link to Microsoft's video of what the future could look like 5-10 years from now.

Wouldn't it be cool if we could pick up a can of screen paint at the home improvement store just as we have chalk board paint today?

What's interesting to me: you don't see a beige box or traditional personal computer (save the ones with the traditional phone-format and tablet), nor a logo or set of tiled windows. (I did spot one Windows logo on the tablet in the video.) 

Mark Wilson offers his own interesting thought (not that I agree) in his post over on Fast Company that this one vision of the future is trapped in a box…

"Microsoft, this video is not the future... Even Apple, the company that owes most of its success to these magic, touchable rectangles, is already moving on from the paradigm [his ref to his post about Apple's reported forthcoming iWatch], easing the consumer into a world where hardware enables naturalistic gestures that keep us in tune with our surroundings."

Hmmm… seems that the points raised in the video place even more emphasis on how ubiquitous hardware that melts into the background. The computer – no, the technology of the future – emerges from table tops, and responds back to you in a familiar voice enables natural gestures of showing, sharing, as well as asking and responding verbally. Who's to say what it looks like outside the home and how you take it with you? Likely the subject of more interesting clips to come from the looking glass. It's interesting to see how much has come to fruition since this look way back in 2009, and even 2011.

I can imagine that some prior art may be referenced Harry Potter by the good folks at Hogwarts, in the living paintings that seem to virtually span beyond the edge of the frame. ;)

Additional reading: Microsoft's View of the Future Workplace is Brilliant, Here's Why - Forbes https://onforb.es/Ltbf9p

Also available at https://bit.ly/Zac1zo