Web thoughts

Many years ago, when the local TV station was looking for a successor to Dr. Who, they showed the short-lived, 1987 series Star Cops, placed in the 2020s. One of the props was a device a little larger than a double-pack of cards that the lead character carried in his pocket and referred to as "Box." His possession of Box was mildly scandalous, not because it was illicit; but because its purchase required near Gatesian resources and he was a mere civil servant. The explanation was that his father worked with the developer and it was a token of appreciation.

Box was a magical device because its owner simply had to ask a question and it could access all the global information stores and find a response in a few minutes. Sounds sorta like Google on your Treo.

Last time I touched on the concept of remote control that allows you to work on your computer as though you were sitting at your desk from any PC on the internet. Now, replace the home computer in this picture with a service bureau and visualize the possibilities.

You sit down at any thin client** anywhere in the world. Log in with biometric authentication and encryption and you're connected to a virtualization of your desktop with your data and your preferences. It doesn't matter whether the client is in your cubicle at work, your cell phone, or an ATM; it has the same information.

There is no issue of synchronizing your contact list between Outlook and your Palm because you only have one, live, contact list. If you're in the middle of writing an email, paying bills, or watching a video when it's time to leave for work; just hit "suspend" and pick up at that exact point on the train or in the coffee shop. Did you forget the grocery list? Pull out your PDA and there it is, including the dinner ingredient your spouse just discovered wasn't in the pantry and a request from your children to pick them up at the library because it's raining.

At work your company data and programs are seamlessly integrated into or judiciously isolated from your personal activities. Email can be filtered so you don't get the vacation pictures from your brother until you switch from "at work" to "at home." On the other hand, your calendar is merged (at least during working hours) so you know you'll miss that safety lecture because of your dentist appointment. If you are required to, or restricted from, accessing certain tasks at certain times, it's appropriately managed.

All of this personal computing comes to you from central servers for a competitive monthly fee. You don't have to think about hard drive crashes, backups, software updates, or virus attacks because the system's managed by professionals. If you need more computing power, either for today or permanently, just upgrade your subscription.

You can lease your applications by the month to be assured of always having the latest revision or buy a "lifetime" license. Either way, software costs should come down because publishers are assured that every user will pay for his use. Programs should be better because programmers don't have to spend time making sure they work with every configuration of Windows on every type of PC installed by people with all levels of expertise. Meanwhile, if you want to try out a new program, you're not stuck with either bootlegging it or laying out big bucks to buy it. Just add it to your subscription list for a month. The publisher may even make the first month free, hoping you'll subscribe.

This story may be as accurate a picture of next year as Detroit's concept cars, but it's not totally pie- in-the-sky. All of this technology exists today. It may not be totally integrated or broadly used outside certain markets, but it's here. It just needs someone to bring it all together, put a friendly face on it, and sell it to a billion users worldwide (Dewey and I will opt out). Who will be the next Steve Jobs or Sergey Brin?