Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Promise of A New World

I swore to myself when I started this blog that I'd never have 'techie' posts here. It's my belief that unless you are a very good sci-fi author with oodles of imagination to supplement tons of ability with words, you can't make techie stuff appear good reads for everybody; and since I haven't proved myself to be either, hence the reason for my resolve.

But over the last few days, two things have caught my attention and excited me to such an extent that I've now broken my aforementioned golden rule, not once but twice in quick succession. The first of course, was the concept of $100 laptops; the second is the incredible concept of surface computing.

To know more about this, you can look over the papers from a couple of days ago, or you could wiki it, or just visit the homepage of Microsoft Surface. This is hardly a place for putting up all the details of the project since I do not know everything, nor am I an expert in this field. But it is the possible reach of this enterprise that excites me.

This is possibly the first genuine step to make computing a part of our daily life, and I mean computers as a integral part of everything we do. Okay, it is a big part even today; but computers are still ensconced within the traditional display, input and processing devices - at least to the general public. Sure there are microprocessors everywhere - as traditional microprocessors or microcontrollers, but they are not quite capable of multi-tasked all round computing, are they? (Do correct me if I am wrong in saying any of this) But Microsoft Surface is the first attempt at breaking this notion.

It's probably too early to say this, but I think we are heading for a Star Wars style world full of computers and devices having brilliant computing capability. We are heading towards an exciting, brave new world where our creations - machines led by computers - will enable us to reach greater heights of progress and technical advancement. It takes software and hardware development and inter-relation to a whole new level altogether. And these are the reasons why, this new concept excites me. Despite all the immediate inflated costs and stuff, this shows the way towards the next generation in computer evolution.

I wonder whether Alan M. Turing, when he invented the first computing machine, ever imagined this stage in computer evolution. If he did and had he been alive, wouldn't he be having a smile on his face on this day, looking at the direction his invention his original invention is taking and the limitless possibilities it is providing to mankind? And if he didn't, wouldn't he still be happy that his invention has reached such zeniths, with even more peaks to scale?

4 Responses:

Unknown said...

While the prospect of Star wars reality is exciting, we still need to grow out of the traditional input/output controller mode ourselves before we can embrace this technology.Its a bit like the difference between a touchpad and a mouse, we still prefer the old hardy computing rodent!!!

Unknown said...

Indeed...that's why this technology is exciting...no keyboard, no mouse, all the input is through touch. And the computer can feel whatever you place on the table...For example when you place a cellphone, it will be able to recognize the brand and model and give you complete info about that phone...

Unknown said...

soumyadeep.. dont consider me to be a critic.. but i found the post lacking any information as such.. as in it does not help me in visualising even one bit the new concept that has been been put forward..

@saurya - i am sure you find it difficult even handling a mouse!

Unknown said...

@rajat: I agree with you there. There is little info. All I can say is that this post wasn't meant to give info, but it was more like how I felt about the project. And besides, people can find more themselves and visualize the computer for themselves...After all, to each his own interpretation...