A real breakthrough in future "computing"

Category: Technology

Published: 01/29/2010 05:39 a.m.

Stevenf tackles New World computing perfectly. Thank you Steven. I'm going to stand on his shoulders and expand a bit on a small bit of his analysis. There are three (really two) areas that need to be sorted out for what he calls New World computing.

Those areas are "multi-tasking" and "data portability".

Multi-tasking done better

The new Apple iPad doesn't do multitasking (yet). But, it hints at a better way to think of multi-tasking. Look at the horizontal view of the Mail app. We have panes. We are multi-tasking, but it occurs in the same app. We have an inbox app open in the left Pane, and we have an email app open in the right. It looks like when you reply or forward an email, it opens a new Pane that rests atop the others. To me, this is the future of multi-tasking.

Imagine, if you can, a 30" iPad (the iDesk) that sits in front of you on a table at a 30 degree angle. You have a keyboard in front of you, because no one has invented a better way to get words or thoughts into a machine that is faster (i.e. voice recognition isn't here yet). This is your new workstation. It will let you do anything you can do now, just better.

There is no mouse, because you use your hands instead. The screen is on the table so your arms don't get tired. If you want to do some graphics work, you fire up a graphics app. Now, let's say you need to compare what you are doing to a website. Many graphics pros either have two screens or a single giant screen with a high resolution. We put things in windows now, but let us let go of that concept. Instead, apps will exist in Panes. The way you multi-task is you open up more than one pane at once. When there is only one pane, it fills the screen. Click a button (hardware or software) and you can add a Pane, which autofills with the app launch screen. You can resize the Panes relative to one another, but they will fill the screen. So they could be 50/50 horizontally, 70/30, or arranged vertically instead. To multi-task some more, you can open another Pane. The software might cap you at 4 panes for performance and usability reasons. Or maybe you can have Spaces in the current OS X context so you can swipe the iDesk screen (or hit a button) and be carried away to a new area with different apps.

The big trick to multi-tasking is that it works differently on a big or small screen. Think about the differences between the Calendar apps on the iPhone and the iPad. The screen real estate lets you do so much more. True multi-tasking that is really required is done differently on a 4", 10", and 30" screen. An easy way to think about this is like internet tabs. On a laptop, your browser has space at the top to show the other tabs. On an iPhone, you have to leave on tab and swipe over to see the other options. You can essentially multi-task in web apps, but you do it much easier with a bigger interface. I love the idea of Panes and Spaces (or something similar) and think that this could be a great solution for multi-tasking in New World computing.

Data Portability

The next issue is data portability. Steven tackles this as two separate things. Sharing data (i.e. "documents") with others and sharing it with different apps within the device. OS X has done this very will with iPhoto. If you really allow iPhoto to manage your pictures, then you really shouldn't ever have to deal with photo "files". You can email, upload, and import pics all using iPhoto. I think this model can be abstracted to other types of "files", namely text documents. If I can create a new doc in iWork on the iPad, then upload it to Google Docs or email it, then I am beginning to have some document freedom. I don't want to have to drag files into folders. I want the machine to know that this bit of data is a document with text and other things (images, tables, etc.) and I want to be able to send it to and open it in other places. We can do this today in part because of a unified document format that is pioneered by Microsoft. I understand people want to use open formats and other types of files, but can't we just forget about all of that? I don't need to care what the file type is. I just need to know that it's a document that I can open, search for, send, and edit. Whether it's a .pdf or a .doc or whatever, I just need everything I use to use it. That may mean I can't use every app, but that is the sacrifice. Yes, we lose freedom and are constrained into a single type of file. But that shouldn't matter. No one whines about the types of files used in Evernote or in Gmail or many other places that you can make things. As long as we can get data in and out, we shouldn't even see the file type.

This is a huge break from how people think about computers, specifically how businesses think about them. But I am positive that I could still do all of the work I do now without thinking about file types. I will sacrifice freedom for the ability to move things around.

A computer doesn't work this way now, but it will in the future. iPhoto can work this way if you let it, and written documents and other types of data will too. And really, are there many more types of documents than text and images, audio, and video? I realize those come in many flavors each, but those 4 are our core.

The iPhone was just the beginning

With multi-tasking done in Panes or something similar, and data management handled by the computer to maximize portability, all the applications on current desktops can be recreated and improved for a touch interface. Forget about your flash drives. You won't store data that way. You will send it. The machine will communicate your data for you.

And screen size will make a big difference on how well this works. A 4" screen will not work like a 10", which will not work like a 30". A keyboard will still be around in some form or fashion (software or hardware). But, the way apps are used and the way work is done will become much easier. Forget about USB drives: the computer will send things for you. Forget about a mouse: use your hands instead.

The iPhone was just the beginning. It goes with you everywhere and is best for communication. The iPad can travel as well and does some things better than the iPhone. Adding a keyboard to the iPad can make it work like a laptop. And the iDesk stays put and gives you more power and space to work with. The only screen you won't want to touch is your TV screen, which will be connected to it's own computer (like a Mac mini), and will be controlled by the iPhone or iPad. PC equivalents or similar products will follow, and the general masses will move over as well. I put the iDesk release in 2013 and businesses transitioned over by 2020. The future will be here sooner than you think.