The Computer of The Future...
Posted on MF this am...
Subject: The Computer of The Future....
Date: Tue, Oct 27, 1998 11:04 EST
From: FKSmart
Message-id: <19981027110445.23081.00000075@ng35.aol.com>
Check out yesterday's WSJ on the editorial page. David Gelernter, a professor of computer science at Yale and author, most recently of "Machine Beauty: Elegance and the Heart of Technology" (Basic 1998), comments very succinctly and elequently:
"The Microsoft Windows view of computing (formally known as the Apple Macintosh view) is obsolete. It dates from a longdead era when most people owned only a relative handful of computer files, since they hadn't been computer users for very long; when email and the Internet were largely unknown; when memory and the computing power were expensive."
"In the New View, your files will be stored not on some particular computer but afloat in cyberspace, so you can tune them in from ant network-connected machine: at home or work, in a hotel room or a phone booth."
"Filenames and directories are gone: You're relieved of filing and organizing duties, except when you actually want them."
"Everything is laid out on a single browsable timeline, and it's the system's job to get you what you want. You tell it to fetch "my last letter to Schwartz," or "everything dealing with zeppelins"; or you can cruise the cyber-landscape, browse from 10,000 feet and set down where you like. You files and e-amils stretch into the past, your calender and appointments into the future. The system can squish any group of documents into an "excecutive
summary" at the click of a mouse. But unlike most of today's systems, it won't have a million options and switches and "features"; your mother, or even a CEO, will be able to master the controls in five minutes."
=================
Mr. Gelerntner goes on to say that "he/they" are building such a system, called Lifestreams (he has a commercial interest in this prediction).
Well, I'm one of those crazy people who think there are absolutely NO LIMITS (great slogan Novell!) so I'm going to call Mr. Gelerntner and inquire into what he has going. This is how "mindshare" is built, one block at a time, for this INTERNET WAVE 2 which Novell IS leading.
It will take another 20+ points before Wall Street takes notice. There is SO MUCH MONEY IN THE MICROSOFT BOX THAT IT'S CLOUDING THE THINKING OF ANALYSTS, CEO'S, CIO'S AND EVERYDAY JOE'S WORLDWIDE.
When there's power derived by money in any equation it's a recipe for self-destruction. People shake their heads when I talk about these changes afoot. Even the staunchest techies who HATE Microsoft who think the war is over still don't get it.
INTERNET WAVE 2 is NOT about WAR....ie. blowing the other guy away. That's the Old Business model that the Internet is making obsolete.
INTERNET WAVE 2 is all about COOPERATION, HELPING, SERVING, BEING OPEN ETC.
The central thesis behind Microsoft's business model is WAR and the destruction of competitors. What's going to happen is that Microsoft will essentially kill off itself in one long and slow ride during which their power will fade as power shifts to the Global Network and the people in general - where it was always anyway - Gate's simply believed that this power was/is somehow HIS as it he reads his own press clippings and has mirrors on the inside
of his glasses.
Ultimate power resides in people's trust. That's a very sacred, humble, delicate value you can't hold or see, but you can "feel" it.
If given the chance, people will gravitate to those things and people who give them a greater sense of trust, control, value, service and flexibility. The Internet, application servers, server operating systems, directories, IP, bandwidth, Sun's Jini and the related technologies which Dr. Gelernter goes into in more detail: ie. JavaSpaces which is a contraction of "Java" and Dr. Gelernter's own term "tuple spaces" from his seminal book from 1980's,
"Mirror Worlds"- ALL these things are gathering together a force which cannot be stopped. It's simply the next level of integration of this wonderful platform/wave of freedom that we are on.
With Schmidt at the helm, Sun's Jini-founder Bill Joy on the flight deck, Netware 5.0 out and kicking, NDS turning heads, BorderManager firing up bandwidth capacity on ISPs everywhere, Groupwise holding/gaining marketshare, Z.E.N. gaining respect, major accounts re-upping and supporting.....what we have here is the lift-off stage for a massive growth run for Novell and related "open system technologies" which will surprise more people than any of us
can begin to imagine.
Pause for my soapbox.....
METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING, BILL GATES AND MICROSOFT IS THE EXACT ROLE THAT THE KING & ENGLAND PLAYED WHEN AMERICA WAS FIRST DISCOVERED.
There is a vast "New Frontier" just waiting to be populated during Internet Wave 2. Once we dispatch ourselves of any attempt by Microsoft and the Federal Governent to "cap" or control the Global Network, I feel very strongly that the Internet is the Louisana Purchase of our time.
The Poineers during Internet Wave 2 will be like Lewis & Clark. They took risk to discover ways to buck the systems and endure the uncertainty to map and document these "new virtual server worlds" we are about to explore, document, market and populate for the betterment of individuals, neighborhoods, communities and mankind in general.
OK, enough of my soapboxing..... It's been awhile since I got into this kind of lather. I am more convinced than ever that Novell is solidly on track and on target to become a true Internet darling stock leading the way during Internet Wave 2.
Remember, Wave 2 will be massively greater and more exciting than anything we've ever seen.
Good luck!
Ida5683
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