Edit: I am living even further in the future now. The 2nd ad no longer works.
Originally posted April 20, 2010 on AIXchange
I’ve appropriated the Wil Wheaton line more than once, but once again I’m reminded that we really do live in the future.
Those in the U.S. may recall the 90s-era AT&T television ads (here and here) that talked about what we’d be doing in the future.
Seeing the ads again recently, it struck me that many of their predictions essentially came true. Of course, all the technologies we take for granted today — wireless communication, open road tolls, video conferencing, video on demand, GPS, etc. — were already being planned back then.
On the subject of video conferencing, last month the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association held its spring technical conference.
At the same time, the OMNI user group hosted its March dinner meeting.
While a panel of industry experts (Aaron Bartell, Alison Butterill, Susan Gantner, Scott Klement, Jon Paris, Mike Pavlak and Trevor Perry) attended the WMCPA conference, the OMNI group arranged to have their round-table discussion broadcast into its meeting. And OMNI attendees could submit questions to the panel at the WMCPA using IM or SMS.
The video link consisted of a laptop on each end, a video camera and Skype. What amazed me was everyone’s ho-hum attitude. Just think about it: We walked into a private room at a restaurant that had enough network bandwidth on its wireless network to handle an audio and video link between two sites in two different states. Using just a video projector and a laptop with an external speaker, we had a very strong and relatively low-cost connection (especially considering that the laptops weren’t even specifically acquired for this event). As I watched how easily everything was set up and taken down, I kept thinking how lucky we are to live when we do.
The content itself was certainly thought-provoking (and I figure I’ll write more about that eventually), but the technology used to facilitate the discussion just astounds me. Not because it’s new, but because not long ago we were only dreaming of this stuff.
POWER7 is just out, yet you can be certain that IBM is already well into developing the next generation of processors, along with the next version of AIX. As far and as fast as we’ve come, things keep moving. Sometimes you just have to stand back and appreciate everything that’s happened — and look forward to everything that’s ahead.