This document discusses the past and future of personal computing. It covers how PCs have evolved from large mainframe computers for businesses to personal devices for everyday use, driven by advances in hardware like integrated circuits and software like GUIs. The internet and rise of mobile devices like smartphones have transformed computing into an always-connected experience. The future may bring wearable devices, internet-connected appliances, and new interfaces like gestures. Security, privacy, and the role of the cloud remain open questions as personal computing continues to merge with daily life.

1. Where we have been and
where we are going
Vic Laurie
http://vlaurie.com

3. Making predictions is hard
- especially about the future
Attributed to many sources including
Niels Bohr and Yogi Berra

4.  A lot of discussion goes on about “what is a
PC?”
 A PC is a computing device used by normal,
average people
 Not a mainframe or a server or a business
machine
 Personal computing is what you do with a PC
 Computing devices are inextricably
intertwined in modern life

5.  Central role of hardware
 PCs became possible only with the invention of solid state
components and integrated circuits
 Ever cheaper, smaller, and faster components
 Internet
 Fast, world-wide connections
 Information revolution
 Cloud computing
 Software - less of a driver
 Word 95 compared to Word 2013
 Sound and graphics
 Bloatware
 The rise of the app

8. 7 million+ volumes

10.  One guess is 2.5 petabytes (2500 GB)

11.  Point and click
 Mouse
 Keyboard
 Graphical User Interface (GUI)
 Douglas Englebart at Stanford Research
Institute (1963)
 In 1968, Englebart demonstrated text editing, video
conferencing, hypertext and windowing
 Not until the late 1980’s did the GUI and mouse
become common

12.  The new construct of mobility
 Anytime-anywhere-computing
 Breaking away from the iron grip of Windows
 Simpler consumer devices
 Replacement of the point-and-click paradigm
 New interfaces
 The conversion of the Internet into a social
place – a worldwide community
 “Big data” –an emergent phenomenon
 Loss of privacy
 Surprising new kinds of information

15.  Apple iPhone and iPad
 A watershed event
 The consumer unchained from Wintel
 Google Android systems
 Flexible and versatile operating system
 Open source
 Widespread availability of broadband Internet
 Spread of high-speed cellular networks
 Rise of cloud computing

19. End of boxed software
Subscription model
 Software as a service (SaaS)
Proprietary stores
Aggregators
Rise of the “app”

20.  Some overlap with the idea of a “program”
 Typically smaller with limited purpose
 Frequently use the Internet for some function
 Skip the browser
 Run full-screen without conventional menus

21. Future Way to Read News?

22.  Touch
 Voice
 Siri
 Gesture
 Eye tracking
 Thought

23.  Leap Motion

24.  What is new in Windows 8.1?
 More emphasis on the cloud – SkyDrive embedded
 Some interface changes
 More frequent upgrades
 What will Windows 9 be like?
 More mobile
 More cloud
 Desktop gone?

25.  New materials
 Miniaturization and low power devices
 Wearable computing
 Smart watches
 Google glass
 Internet of things
 75 billion devices connected by 2020 - Cisco
 Medical devices

29.  Line between personal computing and life
activities is blurred and disappearing
 Computing devices present in a multitude of
everyday activities
 Smart appliances
 Automobile software
 Future cars will be networked, personalized, and
connected to the cloud … and collecting personal data
about our preferences and our whereabouts —Dan Tynan
at PCWorld

31. Users choose a recipe and the appliance will know how to make it

32.  New security devices
 Fingerprint, retinal, face recognition
 Merging of PC and TV
 Interactive shopping
 Personal assistants
 Inexpensive basic computer kits
 Raspberry Pi

34.  3-D printing
 Foldable displays
 OLED (organic light-emitting diode)
 Parallel processing
 Graphical processors (GPU)
 Semantic search
 Neural networks and AI
 Biological materials for PC components
 3-D displays
 Robots

35.  Instead of bits, use “quantum states” (qubits)
 Very difficult technical problems but
technology is advancing rapidly
 Would increase computing power enormously
 Small commercial device already exists (D-
Wave)

39.  The Microsoft model of one operating system
everywhere and for everything is broken
 Different devices for different purposes
 Consumers and home PC users no longer have
to use the same kind of computers suitable to
business and big organizations

40.  Light-weight and portable
 Long battery life
 Most applications and files in the cloud
 Updates automatic and silent
 Security managed in the background
 Automatic backups
 Touch, voice, and gesture interface
 On-screen keypad with external keyboard
optional

41.  Will security get better?
 Is there any privacy?
 Is the cloud secure enough?
 Is the cloud reliable?

42.  Social
 Economic
 Political
 Societal attitudes, politics, and vested economic
interests often slow or even block the
application of new ideas and discoveries.

43.  Some basic facts about how to use computers
taught to all schoolchildren
 Security
 Some basic facts about how technology works
as part of school curriculum
 Teach how to evaluate information

44.  We can say for sure - Things we never thought
of will come along
 There will be no end of surprises
 But this presentation is at
The End