Nov 05 2009
The future of microsoft or stupidity?
Microsoft launched their vision for productivity in the future. When I saw the video for the first time I wondered whether this is stupidity or a imaginable outcome of the next ten years?
Microsoft vision video
Here are some reflections about the vision:
Productivity is browsing?
If you take a good look at the video you only see people browsing their calenders, charts, interactive tables and what not more. Is that working? Ever tried to type a letter on a touchscreen? I am sure it is not nearly as fast and accurate as a normal keyboard. So maybe multi touch applications are not the best means for entering data or typing a letter. I can image that text can be dictated with speech recognition, but why not operate the whole application with speech than? In my opinion working is creating new value in the form of documents, graphs, data, analysis or applications. Applications that increase the productivity are key in the future, but Microsoft failed completely in developing a vision on improving productivity.
Productivity is less intuitive?
Another aspect of the future vision is that the users know how to use the application. Is that because the design is more intuitive? In all aspects of the movie you see panels sliding open with more information, often without a menu! Are we supposed to smell where the content is? To me it does not seem to be more intuitive, only when one has learned this through experimentation. Is that the future, having a worse usability but more intuitive usage when a user went through the steep learning curve?
Productivity is simplifying the work?
All applications in the video show very clearly just a few options like menus or buttons on each screen. Therefore it looks very easy and simple but how does that relate the complex world today that will be a lot more complex in the near future. Microsoft is struggling to fit all options into Word and Excel, and they are growing! I was hoping that Microsoft would come up with a new way of navigating or using the interface but it seems they just left out 99% of the functionalities.
A glimpse ahead, I don’t think so?
Too sum up, this vision is not realistic and will not be realized for sure. Multi touch can of course be used in many ways but it seems the means are becoming more important then the goal of it. Everything just looks cooler, but what does it add? Also the idea of only having Microsoft programs is a sign of pure blindness, more and more applications will fulfill specific needs and Microsoft is already losing the battle of browsers and media players.
What the Microsoft vision excludes is how new applications and technology can change the way we work. What is considered work? Maybe working in virtual teams is well accepted and maybe we don’t sit behind a desk anymore. In my opinion this video shows what multi touch can be for us, but is far off from being a vision for productivity in the future!
November 26th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
It’s a great point you make, nowadays people seemed to be taken by the touchscreen hype however there is still typing that needs te be done. I do believe that there are ways to let let people communicate and corporate on projects more effectively than they do today. So cloud computing for exampel will see a big growth but it seems cloud computing is “all-google” at the moment. Let’s wait if Microsoft will come up with something better.
November 28th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
@Agora Antwerp, Exactly, the focus should be on how (communication)technology can let people work more efficient and effective.
February 7th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Like your blog. Sending best wishes from Viena.
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:26 pm
The best way groups are able to connect and work worldwide are conference softwares. i think that market will grow in teh next years extremely.
February 26th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
The information overload is breathtaking!
March 4th, 2010 at 7:01 am
nice James Cameron movie. But how do we know how to interact. Its all gestures. Also, looks like all projected interfaces from some mysterious hidden projector. May be all future materials can change color if given some current. Like E-ink. Also if the data needs to flow seamlessly from one device medium to another, we need to buy all microsoft product only including the coffee cup shown. How does iPhone fit into this ecosystem.
But lets be optimistic. Will will happen same like the Star Trek phasers and wireless communications, which are now mobile phones. We still dont have Transponders..and telepathy..
March 7th, 2010 at 1:05 am
this is not stupidity. but this is future…. of google
May 5th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
I do agree with you about the intuitiveness of such a project. But that being said I do think they have a couple of good ideas and I think you missed that point big time. 95% Of the video had to do with ubiquitous computing and not just with the touch interface itself. I get the sense that you’re simply bashing MS because everyone has a go a them. No one dares to critisize Apple or even any Linux flavour or perhaps even Google?
May 26th, 2010 at 5:16 am
This video is merely an estimation of what technology will allow us to do the next ten or twenty years. These are all very real technologies and real possibilities that will happen in our lifetime but it’s not reality. No one can truly predict what the world and technologies will be like in the future but you can’t knock Microsoft for trying to guess. It’s not Microsoft’s intention to force anything down our throats, but to open our minds to the possibilities that await us. This video is not really about Microsoft, it’s about the world. I’m sure they hope they’re as much a part of the future as they are the present but no one can really predict that. It may not be an accurate portrayal of what our world “looks” like but i think the point is to look ahead to the future and show what we WILL be capable of thanks to the advancement of technology.
June 25th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
This is merely an impression. I don’t feel that Microsoft needs to answer all of these questions because one can’t know the future until it’s present. I really do revere the effort it takes to be visionary without being able to cognitively tie up all the loose ends.
Being critical to improve is essential, and although I appreciate this article much of it sounds like pure pessimism.
June 25th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
I bet if it was Apple’s name on it everyone would swoon and forget all the little problems.
I think it makes perfect sense to skip the boring parts and only show the innovation.
August 15th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
nice video, thank you for sharing..