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Microsoft Shares 'Productivity Future Vision' Video
In its latest forward-looking video, Microsoft shows how the future of productivity is bendable, wearable, and holographic.
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Microsoft has released its latest concept video, "Productivity Future Vision," to demonstrate how it believes technologies will evolve over the coming years.
According to the video, Microsoft's perception of the future of productivity relies heavily on mobile and holographic technology. Plenty of super-thin tablet devices appear throughout the video, and people are shown wearing earpieces multiple times.
Digital displays are everywhere. A scuba diver learns about marine wildlife via holography; another woman swipes through pages on a flexible thin-screen tablet that could potentially draw from Microsoft's research on bendable devices.
In addition to smaller handheld products, Microsoft places plenty of focus on large-screen displays. One woman interacts with a glass wall-length touchscreen display in her office and later communicates via video chat on a screen of the same size.
Scientists interact with a massive touchscreen smartboard, manipulating images and text, then conferring with a holographic figure onscreen. They later conduct research using 3D holograms. Both the larger screens and holography seem to evolve from the productivity-focused Surface Hub and Windows HoloLens that debuted during the Windows 10 press event in Redmond.
Regardless of size, it seems like all screens of the future will support digital pen technology. There's even a short clip of a woman tapping a cylinder to seemingly "fill" her pen with digital ink. Perhaps this technology will be the product of Microsoft's reported acquisition of digital pen maker N-trig?
One interesting star of Microsoft's show is the digital cuff that appears around 3:19. Though worn on the wrist, it seems less like a smartwatch and more like Internet-connected jewelry. Its wearer uses the cuff to accept notifications, receive directions, and scan for entry into a building. The wearer then unfolds it for use as a remote control.
Take a look at the other new technologies in Microsoft's video below:
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Kelly Sheridan is the Staff Editor at Dark Reading, where she focuses on cybersecurity news and analysis. She is a business technology journalist who previously reported for InformationWeek, where she covered Microsoft, and Insurance & Technology, where she covered financial ... View Full Bio
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David Wagner, User Rank: Strategist 3/30/2015 | 1:49:15 PM
Re: Bendable
@ashu001- Well, scale obviously only works with products with mass appeal for a long time. I think it would work with a foldable phone, but it is possible most people wouldn't see the value. I don't know. The disadvantage to a foldable phone is that it is probably much easier to lose. Maybe that would be too big a problem to overcome.
David Wagner, User Rank: Strategist 3/23/2015 | 5:53:32 PM
Re: Bendable
@ashu001- I think the problem isn't making one, but learning how to do it at an affordable cost. That seems to be the harder part. Seems like getting the cost down is always the longer and harder part of consumer tech.
None of this in article or what you guys are discussing is what I think of when I think productivity. I thought that meant efficiently getting work done? I'm not even clear anymore in this new world what qualifies as work anymore?
I create business systems by writing, testing and deploying code. If any of you can tell me how any of this makes me more productive, please enlighten me. Even in my consumer mode of raising family and having as much fun as life can offer, I struggle to see how this improves things over what we have now.
For example, mobile phone map/navigation is a light year productivity improvement over pulling to side of road and unfolding the old paper map to plot your course. But does what MS talking about here elevate that with curved screens and holograms? I think we are talking very niche stuff here.
David Wagner, User Rank: Strategist 3/2/2015 | 3:51:20 PM
Re: Bendable
@ashu001- Several companies are working on it. It won't be long now. I'm guessing 5 years until we see one and 10 until we all have one. 15 ot 20 until they're full color and perfect though.
Smartphone manufacture should consider to have an eco-system established instead of relying on hardware/software selling. They should think about how to form a closed-loop ecosystem. The profit should be obtained by user stickness instead of selling hardware/OS in one-go.
@mejiac – Consumers didn't embrace Note Edge as they expected, mostly because of the high price range. Smartphone industry is very competitive and consumers expect the prices to be competitive too.
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