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In the nearish future, your may find you desktop computer supplanted by your mobile phone. But it won’t be as nasty as it sounds. It has nothing to do with speed-thumb-typing or trying to browse the web on a display with cornea-busting low-res. In fact, it has the potential to take some pain out of computing without sacrificing the computing power you’ve grown accustomed to.
For years, segments of the computer community have been chattering about the imminent demise of the PC, to the glee of some and the loathing of others. While the general-purpose PC is capable of great flexibility and adaptability, its design tends to add complexity, confusion, and expense. A PC is almost always overkill for its intended user.
A chap named Philip Greenspun has taken an idea that was born in Japan, and expanded on it in some interesting ways. His idea is to develop the mobile phone into a more advanced computing device, which can dock into an “Appliance” that provides Internet connectivity, CPU horsepower, DVD drive, and a full-size display and keyboard. With this design, some data could live on an iPod-eque micro hard drive inside the phone, but much would be stored on remote servers, which recognize the user by reading identifying data from their mobile phone, and a user-entered PIN.
He also suggests a more friendly user interface, which centers on usability, abandoning the backwards approaches of modern OSes.
From the article:
Where is the evidence that there are a substantial number of consumers interested in a simpler way of computing? There are millions of Japanese consumers whose only home computing device is an iMode phone, providing them with text messaging, Web pages, and various social and commercial services. In the U.S. the best example of a successful simpler computing product is the Palm operating system. The Palm OS doesn’t hassle the user with “Do you want to save this file?” and “Which application would you like to run today?” You open a document, edit it, and close it when you’re done. If someone asks you “Which application did you use to edit that document?” you wouldn’t be able to say. Microsoft Outlook is another good example of simplified computing. Within Outlook there are tasks, notes, emails, calendar items, and contacts. A user can edit any of these without really thinking about “now I am in the special application that I use for editing tasks”. A user is not asked to confirm changes upon editing and then closing a note. Rather than being asked to create a folder hierarchy, a user can view notes by category, by creation date, or by “color”. All of these ways of organizing notes are available simultaneously.
In practical terms, the cell phone becomes the computer, and it can be docked into any “Appliance” one wishes. By itself the phone would be capable of running basic communications and organization apps, but docked into an Appliance, it could tap the more powerful CPU and video card, and run anything from office software to full-screen 3D games without breaking a sweat.
As neat as the idea is, it runs the risk of being exploited by Big Business to prevent us from using our computers to do things they don’t want us doing, such as pulling music from CDs, watching digital copies of TV shows, etc. While they’re slowly moving that direction with PCs anyway, a fundamental shift in computing would give them a convenient place to inject their poison. So, as is true with most technology, it would be much cooler if the assholes would butt out.
Updated October 4, 2005 @ 10:13 am: Clearly Google is in the forefront of the types of web-apps that would make a computer like this feasible… and this week, they appear to be taking a big step in that direction: A web-browser-based office suite.
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Closer than you think, currently there are several models running full blown linux under the qtopia system by trolltech. (I should know, I work there :)). Lots of innovations due for the next version too, which should be out within the year. China’s also heavily involved in brining the next generation of smartphones to market too.
Woot! 2nd comment! Of course, it’s a year after the original article. The Random Article link is good for something, especially in conjunction with the Most Recent Comments link.
At any rate, it seems the initial stages of Google’s office sweet has been unveiled. Google now has a Documents and Spreadsheets function. And now there’s also that wonderful Ajax office software up on the web. Who knows what else is in the pipeline for Google?
I can see this becoming a reality in coming years. It would make sense to be able to have a single device that could interface with these “appliances” as they are calling them. That way you could always have your computer with you; all you need is a terminal to plug in the phone to take advantage of the display, CPU, etc. The only problem I do see is the storage….storing everything on web servers is something I wouldn’t want to do….I only see this becoming a reality once hard drive/solid state drives shrink enough to allow maybe 160gb or so fairly cheaply in a cell phone (although as I understand there is an iPod coming out with 160…so it may be sooner than I think)
I want to be able to keep my data on my phone, and simply use the terminals to give me the processing power to run things that would require more power, or to have the bigger display etc.
The applications would be spectacular for media….I could take my phone/uber-device, use an iTunes-like store and download a movie I want in HD wherever I may be, and when I get home interface said device with my TV at home and watch my movie. Then if I want to play a game I have on there, I simply interface it with my CPU and get going (even better if the “appliance” is all one thing; which you can do NOW with a media center PC)
Only real problem is a monster like that is going to crap for battery life…..
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Big deal! It feels like crowd mentality to use the newest machines. Devotees to corperate America adverts. Ooooo must have that! That’s how I feel in the natural world about hot girls!
The first word to expain software or machines is “Basically” which has replaced “Techniqally speaking.” “Basically” which means you don’t know the specific short answer. I say, “It is”, “It does”.
/////////////tangential #1 December 29th, 2005 5:11 pm
China’s also heavily involved in brining the next generation of smartphones to market too.///////////////
Great, more cheap components. I love you China, but it’s true. But America doesn’t care. With the right adverts, we will buy an updated version next seasion.
Adverts, used in Britian. Short version of advertisements.
I very much enjoy the picture.. seems to be of the previous DI article
This already almost became a reality. A few years ago, Palm almost came out with a product called the “Foleo,” a netbook-sized portable laptop running linux that provided a full-sized keyboard, trackpad, and screen as well as flash memory for a quick boot and bluetooth connectivity and support for Palm’s applications. The Foleo would connect to a Treo via bluetooth and sync all files, so when composing an e-mail, one could type it, click send, and the message would be sent via bluetooth BACK to the Treo, then sent using the Treo’s data plan. The Foleo had no wireless card but was reasonably priced and a netbook’s close cousin, simply ahead of its time
prior to its release, the Foleo was cancelled by Palm
add iphone and google phone running “android” and you’ve gotten a couple steps closer….oh, and by now…it looks like the music industry is folding…giving up the fight on DRM.
And now in the year 2011 we have the droid phones and stuff like the htc thunderbolt that can create power point presentations and use actual cpu chips and have at least a 50 gig hard drive and get 4g internet that is faster than most dsl. there’s even a laptop that was made to plug a phone into. “In the coming DECADES…” try “in 6 YEARS”.
To quote a movie from 2003: “That’s the future.
What a fascinating modern age we live in.”