Interesting article on credit card size technology. GTGO also updated their website.
This from Wireless World.
One of the more interesting developments last week was
Intel's entry into the application service provider (ASP)
business. On the surface, it seems obvious enough: Intel
has more mips, or million instructions per second, than
just about anyone, so who better to get into the processor
intensive application-hosting craze.
But Intel's move has a much more profound implication for
the future of all types of computing, particularly wireless
computing. By throwing its hat into the ASP ring, Intel is
acknowledging a movement back toward centralized
computing. This is the first step in thinning out fat clients
and enabling a world of truly wireless computing.
Let me explain how this works. First, we all can stop
having to have loads of memory, storage, and processing
power on our client devices. With ASPs and other
Web-based applications, all you need is a decent browser.
And with only a browser to house, devices can get small.
Really small, really thin, and really light.
Now, that alone doesn't mean the world gets any more
mobile. But it does enable people on the go to access
their desktops, including all of their personal data, and
with the same look and feel, from anywhere with Internet
access. So instead of lugging around a 4- or 5-pound
notebook, you bring a smart card and insert it into a
terminal in an airport, airplane, hotel, remote office, or
anywhere else with a connection.
Imagine that. A card that fits in your wallet replacing the
fantastically complex and expensive notebook that now
is the overwhelming choice for computing on the road.
Wireless connections to the Internet from cars and on
planes would make computing possible just about
anytime, anywhere. Unless you wanted to hammer out a
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet while hiking the
Appalachians, your computing needs will be pretty well
covered wherever you go.
That is the real vision of wireless computing. I don't
consider my laptop to be wireless. I'm always plugging it
in to phone jacks, power outlets, and countless peripheral
devices. It's about time to let someone else worry about
the wires and let me use computers like I use telephones
and automated teller machines.
This wireless world is closer than you might think. The
only things holding it back right now are Internet bandwidth
and cultural resistance.
Bandwidth has been steadily improving and will make
rapid leaps ahead over the next five years. All that takes
is technology, and this country has no shortage of that.
Cultural resistance, on the other hand, is a little trickier.
We all have Microsoft and Intel to thank for the resistance
to new and better ways of computing. In keeping their core
revenue streams alive, both companies had to continue to
justify fatter and fatter clients. It's almost impossible to
underestimate the power of the marketing messages
coming out of these two companies over the last two
decades. And consumers -- literally -- bought every word
of it.
But now the two companies are coming around. Microsoft
will start selling its applications over the Web, and Intel
is investing in the ASP business.
The world just may become wireless after all. What do
you think needs to happen to enable a truly wireless
computing environment? |
