Bob and Dan are dead-on: The browser has served us well. It has provided a means by which we can have universal access to applications, transactions, and published information. But in the meantime, the PC has become a powerhouse: cpu, gpu, storage, price. The Great Conversion to notebook computers is well under way, and it's now clear that the most wildly successful wireless mobile productivity device won't be the 3G phone, or even the BlackBerry, but the ubiquitous and inexpensive WiFi notebook. In a shape and size to suit every need.
And as we deal with more and more PCs in our lives, and as we use them in more and more locations, we're finally beginning to realize again why we need upgrades to our systems and application software that bring them into an era of ubiquitous computing and communications. We need to prepare for, and to embrace a whole new generation of system and application software that leverages this powerful hardware specifically and tangibly to increase our personal productivity, and to increase our business agility. To enable us to spin more plates; or to keep them up in the air in a more measured manner.
Software that embraces mobility, synchronization, security, and manageability as transparent core attributes. Software that recognizes "people" as being just as important as "documents". Software that recognizes transparent peer communications as being equal in importance to server communications. Software with a new model that synchronizes applications and activities, not just data or documents. We need to use multiple devices as seamlessly as we use one device; we need to be able to use them collaboratively as intuitively as we've used them alone.
Servers and browsers are like two peas in a pod, and the Web has largely run its course. In terms of the value that we can get from our own personal computers and the Internet, however, we're still at the dawn of a new era. An era in which software matters, and architecture matters. [Ray Ozzie's Weblog]
Having lived as a notebook user now for nearly 10 years, it will be a pleasure to start seeing applications and services that take the notion of portability and connectivity seriously. Lotus Notes was the first system that understood those needs and Groove is probably the second. Most other software is built by developers who are essentially chained to their cubicles and don't really appreciate how mobility works for knowledge workers.
