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Ray Ozzie: Extreme Mobility

This a fascinating post on the future of mobility by Ray Ozzie. He describes how he sees different technology "spiral" together to create new ways of working, socializing and developing / offering services.

Lots of bits and pieces in here that are fascinating. Here is an example, clarifying something that has been nagging me for a while.

"Back in the mid 80's, a few of us began working on a product now known as Lotus Notes whose market requirements dictated a different model than those popular in that era - one with a form of mobility at its core. I'd refer to it as a 'synchronization & security first' style of systems design. A style in which you must first, come to terms with the fact that your application and its data are going to be distributed all over the place, and second, you must deal with these two key issues as a core aspect of the application's design and operation, as opposed to being an afterthought.

What do I mean by 'afterthought'? Well, let me ask the following simple question with regard to synchronization: How many copies of your Contacts do you have? Did your phone come with a 'sync cable' and a CD with a program that enables you to 'sync your contacts with your email program'? That's an afterthought. Somebody designed the phone's firmware, and then said 'OK, how do I get contacts into this thing?'

How could it be different if 'contact mobility' weren't an afterthought? Well, think about it: your phone is connected to a network. Why aren't your phone's contacts automatically synchronized through the 'cloud' with your PC, which is also ultimately connected to the same cloud? Why does your phone's display not automatically show your next appointment or meeting, being connected to that same 'cloud'? And so on."

That is so true. All our gadgets and toys are connectable, but they aren't truly connected. They exchange information, but they don't communicate. They can see eachother, provided we work the correct magic using cables, WiFi or radio waves, but they aren't really aware of eachother.

They are all solo artists, not a great band with you as the lead singer. As it should be.

Extreme Mobility

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