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The Future Of Computing: What You Can Expect From Microsoft

by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg on 09/12/09 at 7:30 am
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There are a few amazing things to expect from Microsoft in the next couple of years that could change the way you live and the way you do business. Chief research and strategy officer of Microsoft, Craig Mundie, has highlighted some of the technological innovations Microsoft is busy working on.

Kevin Voigt wrote an article for CNN on the changes you can expect when interacting with your computer. Some of the fun changes include using hand gestures instead of keyboards or clicking with your mouse and even eye scans to select documents. “Today, most people’s interaction is through a screen — whether they touch it, type it, point or click, it’s still just graphical user interface”. Craig talked about replacing graphical user interface with what he called ‘natural user interface‘. He discussed his vision of computing in the next decade with CNN and described ‘natural user interface’ much like you would Nintendo’s Wii or Sony Playstation 3 with their use of physical interactivity. “This will be the ultimate aggregation of the ability of the computer to emulate human senses of sight, hearing, speech, touch, gesture and couple them together in a different way for people to interact with a machine.” Craig explained how you might sit in your living room and scan through a list of movies by just flipping your hand as you would when flipping through a book. Now, imagine using this little feature when delivering a presentation or giving a lecture.

To add onto this, Craig talked about the evolution of “cloud computing” or the moving of computing power from home PCs and laptops and onto the Web. “I think of ‘The Cloud’ as taking the publishing abilities of the Internet and adding programmability to it”. Coupled with new devices which are smart and perhaps even anticipatory in how they interact with you could create a brand new computing platform which will take care of a whole lot of problems of the past. Craig talked about commanding your house to be more eco-friendly with its use of electricity or ask you house to charge your electric car’s battery. You’ll be able to describe your problem or policy you want and the computer should be able to implement it. “It sounds a bit Star Trek-ish to some people but I really think we’re within a few years of starting to see the introduction of these kind of things — largely as a function of the increase in computing power both locally and in terms of the backbone of the Internet in the cloud.” This will ultimately change the way you do business. Imagine telling your office to switch lights off automatically when someone leaves the room to save power or facial recognition which will tell you who’s in the office. I’d like it if your office could take notes as you discuss things in meetings or keep a diary for you.

Craig has applied his vision of high-tech living to his own home. “There is a uniform graphical interface that allows you to control almost anything in the house” he said. “You can control the drapes, lights, the fireplaces and audio systems.” Here is a really cool video to show you what Microsoft is planning for the future of computing. Let’s hope this can be achieved ASAP cause I can’t wait any longer.

Yolandi Janse van Rensburg writes about social media, marketing, life and, of course, cars. We say “of course” because Yolandi is nuts about anything on 4 wheels and runs Autofemme, a blog about cars. Our Ideate sub-editor is also the Heavy Chef girl at World Wide Creative. You can follow her on Twitter @Yolandi_JvR View more articles by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg.

Tags: Microsoft

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