I know the forum name is "Where is IT going in the next 5 years" - BUT 19

[guestgulkan]

The IT, computer and software industry has always been over
optomistic - so I will say 25 years time (just as I'm retiring).
This is what I expect/would like to see:

1. The death of landline (copper and fibre optic) modem.
Wireless (mobile phone) to rule.
However, requires humongous increase in mobile bandwith - maybe to 1 GBit/sec. Possible?
saves all that nonsense with different modem connectors
for different countries, etc..

2. The harmonisation of OS's - The browser will be the thing.
The OS will become browser based.
Maybe they will be many types of PC, with different CPU types - but they will run a common specification browser interface API. No more *ix, windows, Mac OS specific programming!
Bootup to the browser.
Javascript and java will evolve to be the common programming
languages.

3. IP V6 - will it take over by then???????????

4. No more driver disks/CD's.
Memory will be so cheap - peripherals such as printers & scanners will come with the driver(s) already in them.
True plug & play.

5. CHEAPER SOFTWARE !!
No more distribution of software on CD's.
The applications are on the web. Only user specific files
are stored locally. Access/payment is all part of the ISP package.

 

[AshHind]

portable computing will be worn, incorporating solar cells, and thought controlled. Heads up type display will be available by way of hologram. the next 5-10 years will see increadible change in data flow, Cellular computing networks to replace the copper/fibre as has been mentioned in earlier replies. Global Area Networks will be satellite controlled. People will have available a microchip for GPS, similar to current soldier availablility.

And above all else, in 25 years time there will be some twat that still insists on being able to insert their 5.25 inch floppy somewhere because it has their data on it!

of course thats all just MHO.

 

[Tazcat]

International Fashion Machines (

http://www.ifmachines.com)

of Cambridge, MA is already working on what they call "smat textiles and wearable computing." I believe I even read something about a hand bag that will change itself to match the wearer's shoes (life-saving technology for many women! Can't wait to get one, myself.) ;-)

Best book I ever read on the future of technology is a non-fiction tome by Arthur C. Clake called "July 20th, 2019" published in 1986. It's a brilliantly researched text on the most likely technological advances, fifty years after the first moon landing. He covers all facets of technology, including sports and education.

Some of the things Clarke predicts are: Dent-resistant cars with on-board navigational systems. Home television satellite antenas less than 3 feet in diameter. Cable tv differentiating into topic-specific "magazine" like channels, one example being a Travel network (I love the Travel Channel!) Home computers as the prefered source for music and art: "By the beginning of the next century, printer images will be as clear as most photographs. The cost of this capability will fall to rival today's inexpensive home computer printers."

Of course, all of this sounds perfectly familiar to us. Then you remember that this book was published seventeen years ago.

In Clarke's future, there are no need for neural jacks, either.

Love this thread. Can't wait to see what comes up next.

 

[johnwm]

Arthur C. Clarke published an article in Wireless World in October 1945 detailing the use of geostationary satellites for universal broadcasting, showing all the maths for orbital height and radiated power calcs.

Now that's what I call foresight!
________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

'People who live in windowed environments shouldn't cast pointers.'

 

[Tazcat]

Actually, Clarke's name is on the patent for the first communications satellite (1958, I think?) The guy who built the thing credited Clarke with having given him the idea in the first place, so he had Clarke's name put on the patent.

 

[jad]

did you know that clarke tried patenting the idea, but conceptual ideas can't be patented, he was told that he had to have a working machine in order to patent the idea

allegedly anyways.

 

[Berzerker]

Hey everyone, I love this thread! I think the key to getting some sort of grasp of what the future might hold is the understanding of the laws of thermodynamics/homeostasis- the Earth is moving toward total efficiency and mundane consciousness- yet how close that total efficiency is to annihilation of what we know of as thought!

We are now in the begining stages of the war/orgy between carbon and silicon. The Earth has gone from sand, to mold, to highly organized carbon-based life which implement silicon tools, ##(*note, this is where we are now)##, to silicon life which use carbon-based tools, and then back to sand!

There will be competitions/wars between rivaling carbon-based families as to who will usher in the symbiosis of carbon and sand. This symbiosis of man and machine will be a "golden age".

Eventually, silicon will make overt moves against carbon because of it's inherint inefficiencies, and the Earth will make it's necessary slide into the sand box.

There will, of course, be many side battles going on (and perhaps even derailments of the silicon age)...this is just a general outline of the future and the past ;-)

So, getting to the practical application of the Earth's agenda...I'd say our best career moves (lol) would be to become witting participants in the inevitable, or to find a niche in the carbon backlash (organic farmer, maybe?).

Can slime and rock ever get along? Stay tuned.

Anyway, it's been nice to read all of your posts and I want to read more!

Cheers

 

[Sleidia]

For your pleasure Berserker, here is a thought I had recently but that doesn't rely on any known experiment I think :

Imagine we find a way to store data in the DNA inside the body. Furthermore, imagine that we find a way to have the brain records its memories as binary data inside the DNA, which would increase in size with time passing. Then, the result would be human beings who would be able to genetically deliver their own memories to the next generations and so on. Thus people would remember things experienced by their ancestors. But would the extra data modify the apearance of our bodies?

To the Sci-Fi writer who'll use the idea, don't hesitate to write my name somewhere

 

[CDIMichael]

Where will we be in 5 to 25 years, we will be where ever we want to be. If you look back 25 years from now, would have thought we would be where we are today ??? I have always been a IT Junkie and I am now being retrained at the age of 42 as a Network & Internet Support Specialist, because I feel security and networks are the future. I am very excited about what the next 25 years will bring for me and my daughter, she is 4.5 , She is what I call a child of the Digital Age. To think I will be able to experience this time with her. She has been in front of a computer since she was 2 weeks old, for her a computer is what model cars were to me. Just imagine where we are going and how fun the ride will be. ;-)

 

[guestgulkan]

Sleidia DNA memory.
Don't think it will work.
I think to store a memory you have to make a
modification to the recording medium.
So changing DNA will have drastic consequences.
Anyway, the current human ability to 'forget' is not necessarily a bad thing at all.
Imagine all the crap, and bad stuff you'd end up with in your memory bank.

 

[jsteph]

Within 25 years:

The cell phone will be implanted into the persons ear, with a mic implanted near the throat. Dialing/answering either via implanted flex pad or voice-response. You think I'm joking? Just watch.
--jsteph

 

[CajunCenturion]

Implanated phone in one's ear?

Well, I guess that you can't consider everything to be progress.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[dilettante]

Infants embedded into these big pods at birth, where they live their whole lives in a "VR sleep" providing the collective with energy by metabolizing low-grade organic material into heat...

Oh wait, I think we already saw this vision of the future!

 

[greyted]

Guess where the answerphone will go?



Ted


I have eaten humble pie.

 

[cazellnu]

Yes. Technology can be very advance in the next 25 or even 10 years. However, I am curious how the market able to absorted these technology. For example 25 years ago, many science ficition had mentioned that space travel should be available for public today. However, it is not for everyone due to the cost issue. However, I do agree that certain precentage of work force will being replace by technology in the next 25 years

 

[manarth]

can we really envision the future?

where are the hover cars? humaniform robots? invading martians?
as for embedding phones in ears, weren't we all meant to be cyborgs by now?

at the moment, technology seems to be split -
1. purpose driven: a device built for a specific function, like a new type of rock drill for digging a tunnel
2. entertainment driven: flatscreen TVs in an attempt to improve the aesthetics of the TV, satellite, new speaker systems, the latest wrist phone (one piece of sci-fi that has genuinely made it into production!)

Do you really think we'll be living in "wired" houses? The gimmick might appeal to a few, but I doubt many people will be particularly bothered about switching lights on by remote control!

<marc> i wonder what will happen if i press this...[ul][li]please give feedback on what works / what doesn't[/li][li]need some help? how to get a better answer: faq581-3339[/li][/ul]

 

[dilettante]

Heck no, I don't want a wired house. I get enough spam as it is without popups whenever I open the fridge or put a load in the washer.

Next they'll hack the lightbulbs so they can make them &quot;sing&quot; jingles for tampons or something. You just know that's what all those &quot;pet hackers&quot; the corporations own are working on now. ;-)

 

[manarth]

thanks dilettante - ROFLMAO
&quot;fridge spam&quot; that's the funniest suggestion I've heard in a while!
<marc>

 

[AIXSPadmin]

A wired house? No thanks. I am quite capable of turning on and off a light switch myself without the assistance of software.

It is quite bothersome that almost universally now it is acceptable for high school students to use calculators in math classes. When I took algebra and geometry we were not allowed to use caluculators because the teacher wanted us to solve the problems by hand - thus LEARNING how to solve a problem.

Some assume it is okay to use a calculator to do the problems because they still have to know &quot;what&quot; to punch in. I disagree. In 20 or 30 years or more is it going to be acceptable to implant math chips in newborn babies because they need to learn other things and not bother with mundane things such as math?

Technology can be and is wonderful, making life easier, safer, longer, and more comfortable. However, it should never be a replacement for human intelligence and cognizance.

 

[guestgulkan]

In 30 years I expect nanotech machines will be playing a a part in medical engineering.

Genetic engineering coupled with nanotechnology?
I predict a Borg type future for mankind.

 

[AIXSPadmin]

Yeah. Nanobots swimming with the red and white blood cells to defeat infection. Some will claim the nanobots are the same for defeat of illness and disease like penicillin or antibiotics. Nothing could be further from the truth, in my opinion.

One should read Michael Crichton's latest novel, &quot;Prey,&quot; that has nanobots as the subject. Of course with his novels, the plot is based upon REAL research being or already conducted. Makes you think!