In an e-mail to customers, Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, shares information about new technologies from Microsoft that will open the door to a new generation of solutions that extend from the desktop to the mobile phone, the mobile media player, the car, the TV, and beyond. During the past decade, a dramatic transformation in the world of information technology has been taking shape. It’s a transformation that will change the way we experience the world and share our experiences with others. It’s a transformation in which the barriers between technologies will fall away so we can connect to people and information no matter where we are. It’s a transformation where new innovations will shorten the path from inspiration to accomplishment.
Many of the components of this transformation are already in place. Some have received a great deal of attention. “Cloud computing” that connects people to vast amounts of storage and computing power in massive datacenters is one example. Social networking sites that have changed the way people connect with family and friends is another.
Other components are so much a part of the inevitable march of progress that we take them for granted as soon as we start to use them: cell phones that double as digital cameras, large flat-screen PC monitors and HD TV screens, and hands-free digital car entertainment and navigation systems, to name just a few.
What’s missing is the ability to connect these components in a seamless continuum of information, communication, and computing that isn’t bounded by device or location.
Today, some things that our intuition says should be simple still remain difficult, if not impossible.
Why can’t we easily access the documents we create at work on our home PCs?
Why isn’t all of the information that customers share with us available instantly in a single application?
Why can’t we create calendars that automatically merge our schedules at work and home?
Pl. visit http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/execmail/2008/10-28nexttechrevolution.mspx to read the full text of the interview.
