The Next Boom For The Computer Market

Alpha Omega · Post by **Alpha Omega** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:29 am

Just curious what you all think may be the next big thing for the computer market? After doing an extensive review on how the computer market has come along from the commadore 64 to the PC I believe that this GUI hype will be short lived. Sure it was cool in the 90's but it is almost 20 years since the first GUI was created and all that was come along is different versions of the same thing. What if the way we define an OS is a completely different concept in the next five years? We have gone from the command line to the start menu.... but what's next?

CuteAlien · Post by **CuteAlien** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:25 am

Next step is that we will live inside the computer. 5 years is maybe a little short span for that, so there might be intermediate steps.

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:59 pm

CuteAlien wrote:Next step is that we will live inside the computer.

I think it'll be the other way, the computer will live/work inside us (implants and such)...

Alpha Omega · Post by **Alpha Omega** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:03 pm

I had this idea for a new OS which instead of using a GUI it used an AUI. Artificial User Interface, let me explain. If the goal of the PC is to make using a computer for the regular person easier, then why even teach them how to use a computer? Wouldnt it be easier if the computer did all the thinking for you? Say you need to check your mail, well under this OS the computer would do it for you, decide whether its spam, toss it in the trash or alert you that it is important. Normally the user would have to do this and much of it is a waste of time and confusing for the average person but this OS makes things small things obsolete. This may seem farfetched but the overall idea behind it remains.

twilight17 · Post by **twilight17** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:04 pm

Quantum Computing is interesting.

xDan · Post by **xDan** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:13 pm

I'm looking forward to really cheap micro projectors. And holograms too perhaps!

also it would be nice if all displays were touch sensitive!

I'm sure an "AUI" is the ultimate goal, certainly for menial things like email checking. But do not forget, the computer is a tool. You've still got to interact with it somehow. Maybe with natural language... but if you follow that idea too far, and you're thinking of things like email, then you have.... the telephone! Why even have a computer!

bitplane · Post by **bitplane** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 10:12 pm

I don't know about the next 5 years, but I'm with CuteAlien.
Fast mobile processors + high speed internet + high resolution transparent displays + 10MP video cameras + GPS + eye tracking + 3d accelerometers + augmented reality + a pair of shades = we can live in a cross between the real and virtual world.
Children starting young enough would take this technology as an extension of their minds, so as the intelligence (ability to solve problems) of the software increases, so will that of the human race. Smarter humans writing software that makes humans smarter will cause a feedback loop of self-improvement... goodbye old world, hello technological singularity!
The start of this kind of thing should be possible in the next five years, it's just a matter of whether it catches on or not.

edit: Secondly, self-replicating 3D printers may completely kill off the idea of intellectual property

Lonesome Ducky · Post by **Lonesome Ducky** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 10:57 pm

bitplane wrote:
edit: Secondly, self-replicating 3D printers may completely kill off the idea of intellectual property

Very interesting article.

I don't see any huge changes in 5 years, but as soon as they figure out how your brain sends and receives certain signals and how a computer can send ones back, virtual reality here we come!

DtD · Post by **DtD** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:42 am

When I have something I can stick behind my ear (or head or whatever) that can overlay images and such onto my vision, I will finnally be satisfied with technology. (Special glasses made of transparent OLEDs or some screen that can give off light without a backlight would be neat too)

~DtD

Alpha Omega · Post by **Alpha Omega** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 2:34 pm

Lonesome Ducky wrote:
I don't see any huge changes in 5 years, but as soon as they figure out how your brain sends and receives certain signals and how a computer can send ones back, virtual reality here we come!

This is actually theoretically possible. The brain is an electrical device like any other and thus when flowing current, such as thought process occurs, electric and magnetic fields are generated. Our physics instructor was telling us how a computer could decipher the thought in ones brain by calculating the strength of these fields and thus act like a remote control to another electrical device such as your computer.