Prediction - the future of the desktop

In this article, Mike Elgan makes a predicition about the future of computing:

The next generation of PCs and laptops will resemble the iPhone

Over the next decade he expects to see this:

Next-generation user interfaces will have no use for a mouse. All that dragging and dropping, pointing and clicking, resizing and moving will be done directly with fingers touching the screen. Mice will go the way of the floppy disk, never to be seen again.

Real keyboards will be optional, and on-screen keyboards, enhanced by haptic feedback, will replace the real thing.

PC monitors will continue to grow until the average screen is well over 50 inches.

And, finally, the boxy CPU will disappear and PC boards and other electronics will vanish into the back of the monitor, much like the Apple iMac or the Dell XPS One. This approach reduces cabling, plus there will be plenty of real estate for components behind those big screens.

Because these display-centric PCs will be so large, and every square inch of those screens will need to be reached by the user’s hands, future monitors will be like drafting tables used at an angle. The bottom of the screen will be waist high, and the tops chin-high, or something like that. They’ll be capable of swiveling to vertical so they can be used for presentations or as a TV, or horizontal, for use as a physical desk. You’ll be able to place books or reports side-by-side with on-screen documents.

See also: