| The replacement of the lap-top. Storage Discs are out, chips are in (see above). This leads to even less power consumption. (Floppy disc drives and CD-ROMS are not allowed as part of the BCA.) Software This will be held on non-volatile RAM, and will comprise of the operating system, Citrix client software (Web.citrix.com), and security software. N.B. An OS is required to enable future enhancements to be added easily. (The OS could be Windows CE, the Psion offering, or possibly something based on the rather frugal Genetix Software system (NS 15/11/96).) Power supply Another area where revolution is occurring. The existing stored electricity batteries (lead-acid and NiCad for example), are about be be blown away by technologies dating back to, in one case the 1940's, and in the other, the 1960's. The first one is a gas turbine (invented by Sir Frank Whittle) based gadget (NS 28/2/98 Pg 11), which is the size of a button and currently runs off kerosene (after initially being hydrogen powered). The turbine is made from silicon, and the whole unit is the same size as a pen-light battery, most of it being the re-fillable fuel tank. If you don't like the idea of a mini jet engine in your computer, then how about powering it by alcohol? The second technology goes back to the space- race times in the 1960's, and is the fuel cell, developed by NASA. Robert Hockaday, in the US, is working on a methanol powered fuel cell. Aimed at the mobile phone market (NS 7/2/98 Pg6), to provide up to 100 hours talk time, compared to 2 hours from an equivalent NiCad battery. It is not a long step from powering mobile phones to powering mobile computers, and Hockaday is looking to have his fuel cell on sale in late 1999. The beauty of this technology is not only the high power density,but that the fuel is renewable and well understood. (Brazil have been using methanol, in converted taxis, as an alternative to petrol since the 1970's.) User interface As mentioned earlier, screen sizes must grow, if the user is to be able to work more efficiently. An A4 screen with a fold-out capability to A3 seems about right. (A3-equivalent size screens were produced by Saab back in the 1970's, but were a somewhat bulky, and so never took off. However, being able to display data over multiple (between two and four) screens was used on VME on operating consoles, and I believe Microsoft have built a similar capability into Windows 98.) Personally, I think the mouse was just about the worst thing to be invented by Xerox at their PARC labs. It has got to go. It's replacement will be the stylus, and even IBM have got into the act (NS 1/11/97 Pg 29). Their gadget literally uses pen and paper, and stores the writing before forwarding onto another computer. I prefer the motion-sensing stylus, which when combined with recognition software converts the wavings about into intellible text. Touch-sensitive screens are OK, but give unpredictable results when they get dirty. Voice recognition systems also have a place, but are intrusive and can suffer from background noise. (Citrix is ready for both voice and data traffic, which could be handy as voice over tcp/ip has started to take off.) Keyboards may well become redundant, not necessarily because of the QWERTY layout, but because of the "control", or more accurately "lack-of-control", keys. The clashes between different software over these keystrokes leads to mistakes by the bucket-load, and increasing time scouring unintelligble user manuals. However it will require extensive application re-programming before keyboards can finally be junked, so they could be around for some time yet. Security It's time to have some security, right from power-up, and which will close the user access should it be violated. For lower level security then fingerprint recognition chips (NS 23/5/98 Pg 45) would fit the bill, with "the macabre prospect of criminals stealing fingers rather than cash or credit cards", as one of the down-sides. Better security is with smart-card technology, and the Access-8 system from Bull Information Systems is worth looking into. (They are looking to incorporate smart-cards into the Wyse Winterms, that they currently badge, to add value.) However, smart-cards can be cracked (NS 13/6/98 Pg 6 & 20/6/98 Pg 12), and so should be part of a wider security strategy. Home:Index Previous: Information on the Move Next: Summary |