The Computer of the 21st Century

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The Computer of the 21st Century
Mark Weiser1991

• Mar. 11. 2003
• Inseok Hwang
• (saber_at_nclab.kaist.ac.kr)

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Outline

• Introduction
• Directions
• Ubiquitous Examples
• Technical Issues
• Other Considerations
• Conclusion

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Mark Weisers Vision
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Introduction

• Preliminary
• The most profound technologies are those that
  disappear

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Introduction

• Example Writing
• At first, maybe..
• Careful attention would have been required to
  write or read something.
• Limited people with skills and knowledge
• Limited surface to write something on
• Now..
• We can see some writing anywhere.
• We can also notice, read, and write without much
  active attention.
• It is very difficult to imagine our life
  separated from the writings.
• Today, the Literacy Technology is ubiquitous.

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Introduction

• Current Status of Computing
• Far from Ubiquitous like writings
• More than 50 million PCs have been sold.
• But the computer still remains largely in a world
  of its own.
• Currently, we should know pretty much to do
  something via computers.
• Like that somebody had to know how to make ink or
  to sculpture to write something, a long time ago.

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Direction

• How should it progress?
• The computer should vanish into the background of
  everyday human life.
• Such a disappearance is a fundamental consequence
  of human psychology, not of the technology
  itself.
• Only when the computers disappear into the
  background, we can be freed from using them with
  thinking.
• Then, we can also focus on new goals beyond them.

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Direction

• Ubiquitous Computing
• Not just means the mobile computers that can be
  carried almost everywhere.
• We might be able to have such computers with
  great mobility and computing power.
• But we must still focus on a single box called a
  computer, a laptop, or etc. ? Far from fading
  into the background.

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Direction

• Ubiquitous Computing
• Example Owning one very important book
• Focusing on that important book
• Not the todays real power of literacy
• Example The Motor
• In the beginning of industry, a typical factory
  might have one steam engine that drives the
  entire system.
• The engine was unique and important.
• Now, we have tens of electric motors in an
  automobile, and each motor drives its own
  component.
• But therere no points to the motors themselves.

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Ubiquitous Examples

• Tabs, Pads, and Boards
• Possible ubiquitous computing devices that the
  author suggested.
• All of them have capabilities of networking,
  display, self-locating, and so on.
• Prototypes were suggested at PARC.
• Tabs
• Inch-scale computers, like nametags
• Pads
• Feet-scale computers, like notebooks
• Boards
• Yard-scale computers, like charts or bulletins.

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Ubiquitous Examples

• How many?
• Imagine how many papers with writings there are
  around us.
• Post-Its notes
• Label stickers
• Note-size papers
• Charts
• ? Hundreds of papers on desks and walls in an
  office room
• For each room,
• Hundreds of tabs, Tens of pads, Several boards.
• They will become invisible to common awareness.

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Ubiquitous Examples

• Possible Applications
• Tabs
• Badges
• Personal ID, Personal Location Detector
• Phone Forwarding
• Make machines know who is operating it now
• Electronic votes in conferences
• As well as Personal diaries, organizers, etc.
• Labels
• Attached on documents, books, or any equipments
• Provide self-locating functions For missing or
  searching
• Provide information such as the vendor, contact
  info, etc.
• Any active functions

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Ubiquitous Examples

• Possible Applications
• Pads
• Key difference from current laptop computers
• There should be no individualized identities or
  importance
• Like scrap paper
• Release people from small, limited computer
  display area
• Use pads as using sheets of paper
• Spreading many pads on the desk, just like
  spreading papers
• Handy like paper, Functional like computer
  displays

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Ubiquitous Examples

• Possible Applications
• Boards
• As a large display
• Video screens, Bulletin boards, Whiteboards,
  Charts, etc.
• E-bookcases Books are downloadable to pads or
  tabs

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Ubiquitous Examples

• Sample images

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Ubiquitous Examples

• Sample images

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Ubiquitous Examples

• Sample images

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Ubiquitous Examples

• Sample images

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Technical Issues

• Required Technologies
• Computers
• With low price, low power, convenient displays
• Networks
• Ties the computers all together
• Software
• Implement the ubiquitous applications

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Technical Issues

• Computers
• In 1990s Perspective
• Prices of flat displays, CPUs will fall
• Weight of display panels will fall, to about 100
  grams
• CPU performance will rise continuously
• Low-power displays CPUs, Longer-life batteries
• On-board tens of MB memory, A/V, network
  capabilities
• Removable storage devices with abundant
  capacities

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Technical Issues

• Computers
• Now we have..
• Tens of, Hundreds of MB memory is common.
• We have CPUs running on GHz clocks, but still
  expensive power consuming
• We have feet-wide LCDs, yard-wide PDPs, but still
  expensive, heavy, power consuming for
  ubiquitous uses
• Batteries are serious problems in portable
  devices
• Many kinds of removable storages with hundreds of
  MB capacity Flash memories, Microdrives, etc.

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Technical Issues

• Software
• Challenges
• H/W configuration may change
• Add/remove H/W S/W modules in run-time
• We cannot shut down the entire system in a room
• We should have tiny kernels which is able to grow
  shrink their functionalities dynamically
• We should have more distributed shared S/W
  systems

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Technical Issues

• Network
• Challenges
• We already have Gbps-speed networks
• Seamless linking of wired wireless networks
• Number of wireless channels We should support
  hundreds of ubiquitous devices in a room
• Range of wireless networks
• It is still challenging to support all of tiny
  range wireless, long range wireless, very high
  speed in a single network connection

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Other Considerations

• Privacy
• Potential problem
• Hundreds of computers, Active badges
• Somebody can abuse the power or crack the system,
  and he can observe almost everything
• Possible solutions
• Cryptography
• Digital Pseudonyms

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Other Considerations

• Community
• Lack of humanity in current computerized
  community
• As the computers fade into the background,
• The computerized connections will become more
  transparent
• Bring the communities closer together
• Computer Addicts
• Computers will be no more than just a part of
  everyday life.

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Concluding Remarks

• The author predicts that his vision will be
  realized in 20 years
• The computers will melt into a part of human life
• Eventually, the machines will fit the human
  environment, not forcing humans to enter theirs