Emerging Technologies: Bill Joy · 2005-09-29 15:30

Bill Joy

a 20 year view – about 10 years in

became frustrated with working on the desktop, and consumer electronics

diffrence with sit-back far experience and computer experience

abstract back from day-to-day innovations

how many webs of information are there?

can use to sort out the confusion as all this plays out – all of these are several trillion

dollar markets

6 webs

near web – sit near the screen
wireless networking (explains trying this in Aspen before wifi – when used with a PC in the

room, people still used the laptop, or plug the Ethernet in – just so much more convenient)

here web – always with you
what is a personal computer anyway? should be on your person at all times
becomes your identity
replaces your credit card
screen is really small – probably won’t watch a film, or read a book, but great for all your

personal information
information very personalisaed to you

far web – TV etc., generally content consumption

they should be as different as tv, radio and print

most innovation has been in the entertainment space- now networked versions of consoles

now encryption all the way to the screen with HD – copy protection is also important to the

games companies
however, on the Internet, we see more interesting content – personal publishing, uses the web

to connect and share experiences
cleavage between content of far web and near web

weird web – voice!
most naturally in the car
can’t type
the natural thing is an earpiece, or headphones, and a microphone
do you need a display to place a call? no
natural for transmitter to be in your packet, and use voice and a headset
need a large screen for near web
voice navigation should be a hierarchy of linked information
can talk to household objects and they can talk to you
no need for keyboards and screens
early examples like TellMe
what else do you want to put on your ear? a camera, and maybe a light
in your pocket, batteries, transmitter, bigger screen
beyond the flip phone and monoblock

now these 4 will be parcelled with different content, form factors…

Yahoo and Google are nearweb franchises, trying to get into mobility, and maybe content
no winners in mobility yet

cellcos have protected and isolated their networks, not seeing the larger picture (like

Hollywood with VHS and DVDs), technology will route around – wifi and wimax
essentially flatrate availability of information
open access to applications
haven’t become to see this in the US
J2ME – concious effort to make a platform

these all have UIs

b2b web – business computers talking to each other
extranets, J2EE

d2d – device to device
mesh networks
MirrorWorlds
a city can become a simulation of itself
urban movement

nomadic idea

great organising principle for understanding how the Internet will continue to change

personal view is that the here web is the most important – computers become impersonal, jsut

a conduit, info stored and cached somewhere else
. arranged information life so nothing is in

one place.

same for mobile device – this is the personal device going forward – don’t want to lose it

new waves of smart personal devices
larger batteries
faster networks

what are the top 10 innovative PC applications? no one knows, it’s all on the Internet atm.

80s dominated by personal computer
then the wave of the network, and then the web – 5-10 year period for each
advances in materials science, new processes, self assembly
can revolutionise many more industries than the PC did
so a multi-theme decade
rest of working lifetime to see this playing out

principle limitation of VC is time, not money
more meritocrity, like Open Source
collaborative editing of thinkpieces, uses wikis internally
companies and business processes will organise around these tools
hierarchical structures may not be able to adapt as quickly

....

have to try stuff out for the future – need to prototype and really make things and use them

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