Why Programmers are Wrong

When programmers talk of speed, they are talking about machine time. They are ultimately talking about microseconds. Microseconds, when repeated, add up to hours and hours of wasted time. Increasing the Speed of a process reduces all kinds of hardware costs and reduces the wasted time of users, right? Well, not really. There was a time when this held true; but these days the most costly portion of the development process is the programmer's time.

Let's back up. Certainly a faster program will save the user time? If we were talking about a desktop application, that is absolutely true, especially when we talk about speeding up a process that will run a million times as the user waits. One millisecond of saved time in a process turns into one million milliseconds, or 17 minutes. However, our Web applications NEVER do these kinds of tasks. If they did, those applications wouldn't get used. Users on the Web won't wait 17 seconds, let alone 60 times that. Web apps work differently. They poll a database for the 10 records that will be shown, and save the processing for the next 10 to the next request. 10 milliseconds extra won't matter, that is 30-40 times faster than you can blink your eye. Saving that millisecond here won't save the user any time at all.

However, saving a millisecond for each of a million customers will still save 17 minutes of machine time; so it is still a cost saving measure! But what costs more; the less than 0.1% more hardware you'll need, or the time of the ~$100,000 a year programmer? Is it worth it for spend a day? A week? Is 0.1% of your hardware worth $2000? In some situations, yes; in most, no.

So what does this have to do with compiled code?

Compiled code can be 1-10% faster than Interpreted code. 1% faster if your language intelligently caches the compiled version of often run code, and it is coded to take advantage of that caching; 10% if you are writing messy code in a language without such caching. This sounds like a no-brainer but you must remember that this is 1-10% of only the processing time. It ignores the time consuming parts of the Web equation entirely.

First, the user clicks on a link sending a request to your server, this might take 50-250 milliseconds. Next, the server will decode that request and start the process of running whatever program is needed to generate the response data, here is where your code goes; it should ideally take less than 1 second to process, that's 1000 milliseconds. Finally, that data needs to be sent across the internet to the user. If that user has a 1Mb connection, and you are transferring 650KB of data that is around 5050-6250 milliseconds. So the total time is roughly 5-6 seconds

If it were 10% of 5 seconds, it would only mean .5 seconds less time, but it is 10% of the 1 second of processing time only. We are talking about such small amounts of user time here that they are inconsequential.

But it gets so much worse

Compiled code is more time consuming to develop. It has a lot to do with the nature of the specific languages, but in general an interpreted language can get away with a variety of tricks that a compiled language will be too rigid to support. For example: the weak typing of PHP versus the strong typing of .Net; while weak typing can open new security issues if not taken into account, it also lends itself to very quick and flexible coding, especially if the language has a large quantity of only subtly different types (I'm looking at you, C#).

Where should we spend our programmer's time?

On the Web, the most important place you can spend your time is between the server and the user. Reduce the number of connections, the size of files, and the need to request them again. Use AJAX or cron jobs to avoid making the user wait for things that are slow. If you want to reduce hardware, forget optimization for milliseconds and invest in intelligent caching, or ideally memory caching. Avoid repeated processing wherever you can. It is betterto waste time removing all the white space from your output html, css, and js than it would be to use that programming time to speed up a process.

Anyone technical, much like a chef, will turn up their nose. My hotPocket is made of poor ingredients, doesn't taste as good, and all around isn't as good as a home-made meal. But it goes from freezer to gullet in 3 minutes flat. It isn't sexy alone, it simply gets out of the way of the rest of my life.

The iPad is the same. It doesn't bother the user to learn a recipe, or knife skills, or how to pan-sear. You just take it out, nuke it, and consume that movie on netflix.

The iPad lets average people do so much more than they otherwise could.

So, as I write this post on my iPad, I feel joy. Because all I did was load the squarespace app and type it out, then press save. My hotPocket tastes just right.

As we have advanced artificial intelligence over the years, and understood our own intellect in the process, we have further and further relegated our own gifts to the mundane, as universal intelligence has become the only factor that makes us the real smarties in the room. Most, if not all, of our core intelligences have been conquered separately by AI:

• Mobility


• Pattern Recognition


• Science


• Natural Language


• Creativity

The list could be endless, but the ending truth is that all of these things are limited only by current processing speeds. Even the fact that no one AI entity can do everything we can is ultimately a question of speed. Eventually, even if no more ground is broken into how our brain works, machines will be able to brute-force simulate us.

Is simulation the same as true Machine Intelligence? Strictly, yes. But this path leads back to the same things we talked about last time. More interestingly is the fact that AI should be able to out-performs us even quicker than we can simulate ourselves.

Humans ultimately do a lot of things the hard way. Our brains are not set up to crunch numbers quickly, but computers are. A well-constructed universal AI would draw from all disciplines of the Artificial Intelligence community. From Perceptrons to Genetic Programming to Finite State Machines and Expert Systems; and an ideal system would grow and change and find new ways to solve old problems. It would compile tried and true operation for speed and employ reduction routines to weed out magic. (By magic, I mean aspects of code that don't actually make the process better, they were simply there because they were when the process was first evolved. Like prayer in the creation of a Katana.)

How does this all come together?

There are a few clear paths to human enhancement; which is not true of machine intelligence. It isn't even clear what kinds of AI will be the backbone of the first universally intelligence machines. However, I see a couple more likely avenues.

One thrilling option is the creation of competing entities in a physical or virtual space. Through some genetic process, such as Genetic Programming, these entities would each be given random code to control their various senses and manipulators, the best survivors would be mixed and mutated to create new entities in a new world and over time intelligence may arise in them. Given access to various additional schemes, such as facial recognition engines, natural language dictation and decoding, and other tools; this AI could learn to recognize objects by name and shape, even individual people, and converse with them. I like this path because it doesn't really require any new kinds of AI or even enhancements to our existing techniques. It simply requires horsepower.

Another option is through Perceptrons, which can become more numerous and speedy in their simulation of the actions of neurons. There are holes here, however, as the learning and usage phases of perceptrons are strictly separated. Someone must initiate a training process for these systems to be able to learn a task, and then that task can be performed. Imagination Engines begin to show more promise, but they also have lengthy and tightly controlled training phases. To be a viable avenue to real universal AI, it will need to be able to self regulate this training. It would need to be able to self-guide.

Undoubtedly there are more paths to AI enlightenment, it is only a matter of time before one is born. Once a single intelligent machine exists, more will quickly follow. They will become smarter at an exponetial rate and we will either have to join them, or be left behind in the evolutionary arms race.

One wonders if they would tolerate us? This is the scary stuff of The Terminator, or Blade Runner or The Matrix; but does it have to be that way? Could we co-exist?

Parallax is what you call the apparent loss of speed of objects moving parallel to you as they get farther away from you. What this ultimately means for us is, using some simple Javascript, we can create the illusion of depth in the page by moving backgrounds or elements relative to the scrolling of the page or mouse location.

This principal has a wide range of graphic design applications, such as the background of this blog. The code can be simple and small, requiring only a couple of additional divs, and could with CSS3 not even require that much.

Beyond being pretty, there are a host of potential uses for parallax. In fact, scrollbars are a psudeo-parallax design idiom. Other uses might include menus that scroll past the user more slowly than the content, and 3D-esque interfaces that use mouse-pointer-location to display and hide submenus or to move the entire menu out of the way.

Human Transcendence

The only avenue to thinking machines I see as completely inevitable is the enhancement of human intelligence through brain interfaces and implants. Unless some other means to singularity happens first, we will eventually leave our bodies by expanding and upgrading the human mind.

Not too long from now we should begin to see simple brain enhancement devices. These will rise from one of two possible sources: medical prosthetics, or pornography. The first of these is well established as a vehicle of transcendence in literature, film, and video games; so I will only gloss over it.

We are already seeing the first of 'better-than-human' prosthetic devices for running and strength of grip. Soon, these devices will have finesse in addition to power, and will become better than human in all aspects. Around this time, some people will begin removing limbs for cosmetic reasons. The same will be true for mental enhancement. Devices are already in testing to deal with epilepsy and spine injury; eventually you'll be able to treat savantism and retardation with enhancements based on perceptrons or creativity engines.

These brain enhancing implants will eventually increase the capacity for human knowledge (wisdom), speed (cleverness, quickness), and processing power (intelligence). Eventually, the capabilities of the implants will rival, then vastly surpass the host intellect. At this point, most of a person's mental processes will happen within the computer parts, and they could survive the death of their body, much like a person can survive the death of even an entire hemisphere of their brain.

However, I see these kinds of brain enhancement avenues as a more-or-less primative concept of machine intelligence, and human immortality avenues. I think porn has more potential.

Why Pornography?

Pornography, unlike 'legit' forms of scientific research have two major advantages; endless funds, and a lack of impeding morals. This may sound like a bad thing, and perhaps it is. However, it will allow some of the first human-to-human brain communication devices to be built. They will start, obviously enough, with connecting the pleasure and sensation centers of two people. Imagine being able to feel what your partner feels? Or feel a recording of what a porn star feels?

This sensation-based interface will grow into other sensory fields, such as visual and audio connections, to give people a true virtual reality experience. It is here that other legit markets will begin to realize the potential of these systems and shared intelligence will arise. It is my expectation that people will join hive minds, and they will do so for pleasure and nessesity. If your competition is using collectives to design new cars, you will too.

The applications of this kind of interconnectivity extend from the corporate (there is a new ironic sense to this kind of business entity, now) to the private. Users of sometimes-on devices will begin to use them at home. Imagine being able to help a spouse shop, while you watch the kids. Imagine being able to watch the kids from 100 miles away, for that matter, just by being able to see through their eyes. These connections will strengthen and it won't be long before some people decide to take it to a new level; They will permanently meld minds with their lovers on deeper and deeper levels until they are essentially one mind.

Somewhere along that chain of events, it would be trivial to hook people into the future of wikipedia and other resources to enhance their wisdom. Crowd-source software for ideas will have arisen as well, to increase cleverness. Hive minds will be more intelligent than a single mind, and there is no reason that the future of wolfram alpha won't further increase simple math skills.

This path to human enhancement and immortality is more borg-like than people tend to be comfortable with. But people we were once frightened that technology would allow anyone to see where you are at all times; to spy on you and that this would make you vulnerable. Today, you are considered strange for fearing facebook, google, or twitter; When each of these knows who you are and what you do on a level once completely impossible.

We will get over the fear of losing ourselves to a collective too, because we won't really notice it happening. It will just be, one day.

What about pure machine intelligence? Could it be born and usurp us? Tune in next time.

What does it mean to be human?

To answer these questions we must first decide what it really means to be human. It is here that I tend to diverge from philosophers of the past, and it is important for me to be clear. I don't think the question is valid. Evolutionary biology teaches us that all species, including humans, are constantly evolving. To pin down one detail that makes our species pure human is like trying to point to some fossil in the record and saying that this one fossil is the very first human, all others are mere apes.

Once you realize that nothing explicitly marks a human from a non-human, you are forced to ask why we have the perception that something separates us. And this question is answerable. We perceive something as human because it acts with reason and intellect, and it shares some common directives, such as self-value, group-value and interpersonal awareness. More to the point, we find another human to be inhuman when it acts out of character with these values. A mass-murderer is inhuman because he lacks an understanding of the value of others.

It is important to understand that being inhuman is not the same as being a jerk. And being human doesn't just mean being intelligent.

In addition to this, a major portion of what makes something seem human is where it gets its knowledge. Handing down information is very human. Reproducing your parent's actions, sharing their views, learning from society; these all are part of what makes us feel human to others. A person raised by wolves will seem wolf-like. They may be just as kind and intelligent as anyone else, but they seem less human because they did not learn from humans.

Would intelligent machines be human?

Perhaps, yes. Especially if those machines were seeded from a human. A machine that thinks, reasons, and most importantly has empathy for other entities is by my definition as human as any flesh-and-blood. A mind is a mind.

So should synthetic brains replace corporeal ones, they are human; so long as there was some cross over with humanity that allowed the machines to learn from humans, continue the legacy of human knowledge, show empathy towards other minds, and value themselves as living entities.

To be continued...

The Death of the PC

In this case I am defining the PC as that which is intended for computation for computation's sake. The downfall of household computers can be traced back, in essence, to the dawn of the internet. The PC market exploded with the ease of the first real web browsers, and today the primary reason the average bloke buys one of these hunks of plastic is to surf the web. The sooner the umbilical core to the PC is cut, the better.

Users tend to be very goal centric. They don't see the usefulness of a multipurpose computer. They see the value of being able to send granny photos of the kids. They see the value of being able to strengthen old bonds on Facebook. The very moment they realize they can do all of this without a computer, is the moment we see the PC market start to dry up. And before you wonder when that will begin, take a look around.

Recently Apple has announced their iPad, and my first solid prediction is it will be at least 10 times more successful than any other person thinks. Perhaps 100 times more successful than the average guess. The reasons should be self-evident, but let's run them down for all the dumb techies out there:

• It already has everything most people need.


• It has a simple interface that almost anyone can use.


• Using it isn't limiting like prior efforts into this market have been.

Before you blow your stack, Dilbert. I don't mean it isn't limiting from computational standings. I mean it doesn't have a lame WAP browser, a tiny screen, or a crap interface. The iPad isn't for you, mister coder, it is for mister "I just wanna read that story about toads on Wikipedia." Guess who there are more of? Hint, it isn't you, techie.

In 5 years, my friends, we will all have 3 types of devices: A media device, (or 12) a semi-portable device, (like an iPad) and a portable device. (like an iPhone) Each of these has a specific range of uses.

The non-portables?

At home we will have a variety of dumb-terminal devices, each hooked into the internet to give us access to the rich media we demand. The cable and telephone companies will be on their way out, but not entirely converted over as yet. Your TV will still get cable, but it will also let you watch YouTube and if they get their act together, Hulu. Where today we see all-in-one PC/TVs, in 5 years you'll just see seamless access to internet content.

We don't need no stinking internet enabled toasters or ovens, but we will see the first of true 'smart' appliances. That dumbass internet fridge will finally become useful, because RFID (the item in credit and id cards that lets you tap rather than swipe them) has finally become commonplace. However, only that cool neighbor of yours will have one. You know the guy, the one with the electric snow-blower, the bastard.

Unlike today, many of your computer-controlled devices will function more like your old non-computer devices did. If you are up on the times you may even have a bathroom scale that syncs with your fridge, your credit, and the cloud to push dieting advice to your portable and semi-portable devices.

WTF is a Semi-Portable Device?

This is what your computer used to be. It is what laptops could have been if they weren't so friggin hard to deal with. This device will bear a striking resemblance to the iPad, it might even be called an iPad still. The house of the future will no-longer need remotes. Yes, the bane of every non-techie will all but vanish. They will be vestigial organs, kept around merely for the few people left who don't control their media with a semi-portable.

These devices will be at least an order of magnitude faster than the current soon-to-be iPad. This will allow it to switch between applications seemingly instantaneously, which will be the ultimate replacement for real multitasking. The TV viewer of tomorrow will pick up his semi or full portable device and select Comedy Central, or the Fred Channel, or play a movie off netflix without having to know anything more than what his network is called... And that only the first time.

It is rather humorous how techies see something like the iPad and assume it only has portable uses. That it is the device you bring with you everywhere. And perhaps some people may do this. However, the vast majority of people will simply replace their home computer with it. After all, who needs one? These devices do all the things we really expect of a modern computer. It accesses the internet.

Mobility

Speculation here is typically all about implants and brain interfaces. I expect to see the first of these devices by 2015, but I also expect most people to think you are crazy to have one. More common will be truly smart phones. They will begin to take on more roles and eventually replace our entire wallet. Within 5 years I expect to see the first proximity key app for telling your car's push-button starter that you are who you say you are. You will swipe your phone at the pump and in stores.

The near future will begin to be more and more about reduction. The iPad will cause the tech field as a whole to really sit up and take notice of who they should be designing for. And it will shift. Easy will be the new selling point. New versions will start to have less features, organized in better ways. Your device will take pictures, that will automatically be uploaded to all your photo albums, based on which ones the device has witnessed you log into. Not just the browser will remember your password, the phone will and it will only ask if you want to push it live or keep it private.

What about Porn?

Futurists often forget to talk about the impact sex has on a population. I won't make this mistake. By 2015 you will be far more likely to meet your wife online than in person. Dating sites like OK Cupid are breaking interesting new ground in mobile dating, and location awareness is just around the corner. In Japan, location aware sex services have been around for years, where matching potentials are forwarded to you by text message. In 5 years, we'll be walking in the mall and be alerted when our perfect match is near. We'll be aware of all their desires and interests before we meet them, and the system will be able to deeply search their photos to decide if they are even our type.

Pornography will be completely split between instantaneous amateur novelty, and AAA quality adult entertainment. The fist will feed users with exactly their kinks in a nearly endless stream of micro-payment or advertisement-centric audio-visuals. The latter will make the 3D TV market explode, make great strides in teledildonics and telepresence, and be the major technological impetus for serious holographic research. I wouldn't be surprised if we see the first car-cost sex android by 2015.

::Update:: A few people have pointed out Roxxxy. This is an interesting first pass.

But what won't we see?

No flying cars. No real advancement into alternative fuels. No nanobots. No human-intelligence AI. However, on this last point, we should be very close. We might even have laboratory AI of a human intellect, but it will be at that point merely academic.

Sadly, we still won't have home robots. The best you can hope for is a Roomba that can go up stairs and can understand what pets are.

Voice/Gesture control are cumbersome. Anyone who has used either before knows this, unfortunately Hollywood loves this crap. The best interface is none at all, and we will see a lot of that. Next best is simple, relaxed, in-lap or desk-top controls. The mouse has lasted so long because you need not lift your hand to use one, and yet it offers great accuracy.

If you listen to the buzz these days you'd expect everything to have a screen, and everything to be covered in ads. I am predicting a reduction in screens. Our semi-portable will be able to read-out all the details of all our devices, so your fridge need not have a screen. All other screens will be TVs, however, they might end up very large and very high def. In 2015, your TV will be at least 4000 pixels wide.

Augmented reality will not be a really viable option until you can wear the system contained in a pair of glasses as light as the norm for glasses today. Even then, the vast majority of people won't have them. It won't really take off until cybernetic implants are common-place. I don't expect that to happen by 2015. What I do expect to see on this front is augmented reality based ad installations in very public places. I also expect to see visual search, a form of augmented reality, to explode in our portables. Google Goggles already enables you to learn what a place is from a photo, expect to see this blossom, but don't expect to see it all the time.

Final thoughts

The near future is going to be very interesting. We are just now about to launch into a new age of usability in our technology. All we need to do is continue to demand these kinds of devices from manufacturers and they will deliver. Don't accept feature bloat. Voice your desires and they will be fulfilled. The internet will become truly ubiquitous for the majority of the population by 2015. Everyone will be online, with ultra-fast connections, from everywhere, at all times. This will shape the way we relate to products, people, and companies. It will be an age of instantaneous consensus. You will be able to easily research any item, any price, any provider and make the best choices. This power will alter how companies relate to the public. It will force transparency into the system.

It may even get the Government out of the stone age.

While voice recognition certainly has its place, basically anywhere you want to replace a living person with a machine, it isn't how humans prefer to do personal actions. Humans are social animals and there is no doubt that the future will bring us wonderful AI robots and virtual pets. It won't, if people wake up, mean that you talk to your computer in order to write your novel. And it certainly doesn't mean you'll say, “Next song, please.” to your stereo.

No, the future of I/O is already here. It is in multi-touch monitors and in proper hardware-based Interaction Design.

Understanding the Past of the keyboard

While I could devote an entire article to the history of the keyboard and why it is both the most significant advancement and constraint on modern computing. I will only gloss over the high points. The keyboard we use today is a compromise between established text input methods and a need for additional controls with a limited set of keys.

The first keyboards were typewriters, and this is where we get the standard QWERTY configuration. This arrangement was designed to compensate for the mechanical device's imperfections. You see, if you typed too fast, it would lock up. The keys are laid out so it is difficult to type quickly.

The first computers adopted this configuration because most people were already used to it. And while some people are really upset about this, I am not. There is nothing wrong with presenting a user with something they are already used to. However, the computer required a collection of modifier keys to access all of the wonderful functions that the computer has to offer. Keyboard shortcuts are a wonderful, if not easy to learn, way to speed up functions that once required long commands of text, and later on long movements of the mouse through menus.

Why has the Evolution Stopped?

Microsoft and Apple believe that the future of input will be software based, and as such have invested no energy in trying to update the keyboard and mouse. In the last 15 years the big enhancements to these devices can be named in once sentence. The mouse wheel, then scroll ball, and the Windows Key and Hot Item Nubs. Hot Item Nubs are things on windows keyboards that do somewhat silly things like opening the calculator or web browser, or the useful addition of being able to control a media player.

So they have ignored the primary problem with the keyboard: Hot Keys. The problem with Hot Keys is that they require the user to remember a lot of abstract combinations of keys to use software quickly, and sometimes to use it at all. While Hot Keys aren't in and of themselves evil, their hidden nature makes them a barrier that users need to cross to become productive with most software products. Luckily there is a very easy fix. One I will get to shortly.

The New Keyboard

My Home Computer will have a keyboard that looks like this:

30 function keys? I must be crazy! Isn't it no different to force the user to remember an arbitrary F key than it is to force them to remember any other Hot Key? True, however the picture leaves out one wonderful detail. Each key contains a small back-lit LCD screen. Perhaps 32 by 32 pixels or even more. This technology already exists, and while it is a little pricey, large scale production can reduce that, and we aren't talking about an option here. These keyboards are part of the standard package. So the user will simply see the price-tag for the whole computer and not the abnormally expensive keyboard. The value added by these full-color LCD screens is immeasurable.

The top row of function keys will show icons that mirror the top bar of the OS itself. These keys allow the user to switch between programs at the tap of a finger. Unused keys will show the items on the secondary menu of the top bar section you are currently working in.

The bottom row of function keys will show program-specific icons for special tasks. These icons can change depending on the mode the software is in and what is focused. Many of these icons will mirror items on the toolbar of the software itself. They are, in fact, Hot Keys, only they can perform additional functions.

Shift is the only modification key. It is discoverable since everyone uses it for typing already. When you press shift, or toggle on Caps Lock, all the icons will change to their alternates. Lowercase letters will become their uppercase versions and the Undo key will become a Redo key. Undo and Redo are infinite, tap Undo 10 times and you'll undo the last 10 actions.

Example 1: Toggle - The user taps a key and it inverses colors to show that it is toggled on. This is also how Caps Lock, Number Lock, and Insert will work.

Example 2: No Text - Clearly some programs or modes won't require that the user be able to enter text, why waste the keys. Since all the keys use LCD screens, the software can simply replace the letters with whatever is needed.

Example 3: Fonts Ahoy - It has always annoyed me how hard it is to use fonts that don't use standard glyphs. Imagine that when you change typefaces to WingDings, you actually see those pictures on the keyboard. Switch to bold, and the text becomes bold on the keyboard.

Oh, and the keyboard connects via USB and bluetooth. When plugged in you get a faster response time, and the battery is recharged. Same goes for the mouse. A MOUSE!

Eek Eeeek!

The mouse also connects via USB to recharge and to gain a faster response time. It is mainly just like a regular old mouse. It has a scroll ball and is optical. It has 2 buttons, like a windows mouse.

The Screen

I've already talked a lot about the screen. It connects to the computer by wire to charge and doing so puts it in docked mode, freeing resources from the touch screen to be used by the keyboard and mouse. Take it off the dock and it turns on the software keyboard controls and activates the touchscreen. The screen will likely need to dim when off the dock as well, to conserve power.

The screen connects via either bluetooth, or better, wifi, to the computer itself. It acts like a terminal.

The multi-touch nature of the screen is what makes it very useful as a lap-tool. Actions like IM, music control, watching movies, drawing, and manipulating 3D objects, are all more natural like this.

It is important to note that all software is usable in either configuration, if sometimes less natural.

Other I/O Devices

While not expressly I/O there are other devices that could ship with the computer or be purchasable as an additional item, or activated on other devices.

These could be Web Cams, or iPods or other items. But this also includes something I call Distributed Networking and Synchronization .

Think of DNaS as really two abilities. Synchronizing data between any paired device and the computer from anywhere, and sharing extra computer resources whenever possible and safe. All of these devices are wifi capable and they all connect to a series of servers owned by whoever makes the system. When you first get a new one of these computers, you go through a registration process. You get to list the address the computer is located at and the name of the user using it.

When any storage device like an iPod or thumb drive is connected to the computer, it syncs the data between them for just that user in an interruptible way and entirely in the background. Not only that, but the computer will connect automatically to any other computer with broadband Internet located at the same address. It will also talk to any and all computers located within wifi-shot of itself and will take processing cycles from those machines if they are idle and it needs it. This will increase the speed of the computers the more there are near-by. Additionally, if an address doesn't have Internet, it will download updates through any other computer it can connect to. It won't use any additional bandwidth, it will simply pull a copy off the network after that computer has upgraded.

Not only that, but by tagging your music as shared, any computer within range of any computer at that address will have the shared music appear in their library. However, they will not be able to pass the music on to a 3rd separate computer.

When a user first sets up their computer, they can opt in to letting other people use any Internet connection they are connected to. In this way, you can share your Internet with all your neighbors. What's more, the computer will automatically re-route additional traffic to less-used Internet connections.

These sharing networks are infinite. If someone has broadband and lets others share when they aren't using it, and a second computer is sharing that connection and is also set to share, a third computer can share the connection from the second computer, even when out of range of the first one. The same goes for distributed computing.

All of this is done in the background, and the big plus to all of this is that all these computers will eventually all link up through a giant wi-fi cloud. New versions of the hardware will increase the performance of the computers connected to it. Thusly, a first generation computer will get FASTER over time. It will download faster and process faster.

Ideally, hard-drive space could also be shared. However, network speeds will have to increase dramatically for this to really be viable. Perhaps for small plain-text documents and small photos, this could work.

There is a very real question of security in all this. However, remember that the ONLY software that can be run is that which comes with the machine or is downloaded in an upgrade. And since updates are completely automated, the only computers that won't quickly get fixed are ones that aren't connected to the system that is a threat in the first place.

While much of this system isn't really I/O, some of it sort of is, such as the shared music, and being able to sync all your data anywhere, perpetually.

The perfect operating system should be simple and non-intrusive. If possible, it should exist on a single screen and always be accessible. It should be clean and take up the least amount of space that usability allows.

Here is a plan for the perfect OS, a description of the entirety of the system's functions and abilities, complete with drawings.

The Platform

As I've already described, the Perfect Home Computer should have a multi-touch screen. It should also support a 2 button mouse with scroll wheel. The mouse functions are somewhat more limited than the touch-screen's, however a mouse is sometimes quicker. Regardless, the mouse and the touch-screen functions are independent and while the mouse shows a cursor, the touching should not.

The mouse has 2 basic controls: The left button, which is used for pressing and moving; and the right button, which is used for selection. This is different than the PC, where the right button is used mainly for calling up a context sensitive menu. The difference is to better map to the primary, that is, touch-based control scheme. I will largely ignore the mouse from here on, simply replace these buttons for the controls I describe, and assume the mouse wheel can tilt for side to side scrolling.

Core Control Methods

There are two basic scales when you talk about an OS, the first are the vocabulary of the second. First, are the Core Control Methods. How the user interacts with the computer are what make up these methods. Clicks, Swipes, Buttons, Icons, and Widgets are all part of this section, and I will try to be as complete as possible.

• Basic Interactions
  • Tap

    A tapping or short pressing with the finger or stylus on the screen.

  • Double Tap

    Like a double click.

  • Slide

    Right after a Tap, the user can slide their finger around the screen. This is like simply moving the mouse around the screen. This makes mouse-based websites function properly and is more natural for some people when dealing with anything like a pulldown menu.

  • Hold

    Like a tap, only the user holds their finger down for a longer time.

  • Select

    While performing a hold, the user also performs a tap/hold with another finger. This is a lot like a click-and-drag selection. Sliding the fingers will select more or less. Releasing with both fingers will leave those items selected, and releasing one finger will drag the selected items to whatever finger is still held.

  • Drag

    While holding on an item, sliding the finger on the screen will cause it to drag. Release it, and it...

  • Drop

    Drop a dragged item to move it to a new location.

  • Grab

    If you add one or more additional fingers, spread apart, to a Hold or Drag, and the object you are holding has the option, you can Grab the object. Grabbing retains the Drag ability, but enables new options.

  • Twist

    If you rotate the fingers performing a Grab around a central point, you'll rotate the given item. This rotation might snap to certain angles, or it might be smooth, depending on the context.

  • Stretch/Shrink

    Spreading the fingers involved in a Grab apart will cause the object to scale up or down. This won't normally cause a permanent change to the file. However, it will cause permanent changes to text selections.

  • Release

    Like a drop, only for Grabbed items. Just pulling your fingers off the screen will release the item. However, you must remove all your fingers from the screen. In this way, you can scale to larger sizes than you can stretch your fingers apart, but letting go with all but one finger, and moving your fingers closer together to stretch the object more.

  • Scroll

    Sliding with 2 or more fingers anywhere will scroll that area if it can be scrolled. Mainly, the main viewing window is the only thing that will scroll, however, other areas might be scrollable and will do so as long as at least one finger starts in that area.

  • Shift/control/alt

    As the multi-touch pad can be used away from a keyboard, requiring these keys would break the system. In fact, the keyboard will not have them at all. I will detail in the hardware what the keyboard will look like. However, it will mainly retain the standard characters for a keyboard, shift, caps lock, tab, enter, backspace, the number pad, and arrow keys (for games). In addition, it will have custom keys for very common tasks. Music/Video controls and the like.

• Widgets
  • Software Keyboard

    The monitor pad will enter keyboardless mode when removed from its dock. The software keyboard comes up as an overlay when something that requires text is selected. This tool will find, or make, a blank section for it to appear and will be as small and non-intrusive as can be.

  • Traditional Widgets

    Most of the traditional widgets are present and function the same as they always have. Buttons, Select Boxes, Text Fields, and so on. Because of this, I won't detail these widgets.

OS Methods

Using the above Core Controls, the OS is built. It will look something like this:

Tapping items on the top bar, in this case email, brings down a list of items. These will be actions/sub programs, and under those, a list of recently used or recently gained items. In this case, the user's inbox. Tapping something on this list will load that item or bring up one additional pane. This pane is for sub-programs and more complex tasks. In this case the contact list.

You can also slide along and down the top bar, although this doesn't make things better or faster, it is more natural for some people to do it this way.

You can Double Tap on any item to do the default action for that item, or in the case of programs and sub-programs, to bring the last used item to the for-front. If you Double Tap on a menu item when you are already viewing that last viewed item, it switches to the item used immediately before that one in that program or sub program. In this way, you can quickly toggle between multiple tasks.

Where the top bar is used for main programs that take up the entire screen, the bottom bar is used for stand-alone or background tasks. Music, Video, and so on. In this case the user has Tapped the Instant Message tool. This brings up their buddy list. The music tool would bring up a currently playing box with player controls for when the user wants to control music away from the keyboard. Video lets the user take the monitor to a different room and still be able to watch his DVD.

The user has also tapped his Mistress buddy, which stores the conversation they have been having. In here, he can tap the text field to talk to his Mistress.

Tapping the IM button again, or a top bar button, or any other bottom bar button will take the IM items off screen.

Important Note: The image shows both the top and bottom bars being used at the same time. You can't do that, I merely did that to save space.

The settings button would bring up the settings I talked about before. These are mainly controls for scroll speed, double-tap/click speed, mouse speed and other usability controls.

You can drag and drop selections of items from one section to another. You could select all those emails and drag them to the word processor button and drop them to add them all one after the other into a new document. This action is mainly for transfer from one media type to another. It can also be performed from the search pane.

What is this "Search" you speak of?

There is no "file system" in this OS. Sure, there actually IS one, but it is never actually rendered to the user. Instead, it shows them their most recent items on each menu in the extra space. Also, there is a search feature that can be accessed both in the bottom right and in each program's own toolbar at the top. For individual programs, it searches specific kinds of files, the main search is more robust and searches all the user's data.

Rather than a system of folders in folders, which forces the user to remember where he put things, this system uses compound tags. As part of each program's tools, the user can alter default tags and add entirely new ones if he so chooses. Many of the default tags are used by more than one program, letting the user search for, say, everything they made in the month of July in 1996. These tags are compound, because they have 2 parts: a Name, and a Value. The name would be something like Date, or Group, or Name, or Format. While value is what that name's value is for that particular file. 1996/07/28, Conference 96, My Presentation, Presentation.

The default tags have more complicated formats and are read differently by the OS and rendered differently. The date, for instance, can be searched by ranges and months and days, for more complete searching. The group tag is added with a combo box that lets you enter new values or select an existing one. This makes the tags more usable and structured.

One item I didn't include is mobile media. Place a CD-R in the CD drive and the CD pops onto the bottom bar. Drag data to it from the search box or wherever and it will be loaded on the CD, tap the cd and you can burn it, or eject it. Same goes for other mobile media. Media from other platforms, like windows, will have as many tags auto-filled as possible. And tags will be included in burns and transfers in a text file that this perfect OS will understand.

The power of this system is truly remarkable. Say, for example, the user is going to be speaking at a conference. He might have a speech he wrote, a presentation, various photos, a video, and some music to play in the background. He could tag all of these in their group tag with something like "Conference 2015" and when it comes time to go to the conference, all he need do is search for that name in the group tags and drag and drop them onto a thumb-drive. No missing files, no remembering where he put them. But lets say he did this months in advance and doesn't remember what he called it. He could search for the time-frame he remembers, in a format he knows he used, with groups showing, and when he finds it, he can double tap on the group tag he likes and it will redo the search looking for just that tag. Easy as pie.

In addition to all this, all software will store an undo file for each and every file. This is a complete undo system with every action undoable and stored forever.

And lastly, there is no more save. All saving is done in the background automatically every time the user makes a change and has paused for a moment to think. Also, there are 2 replacement choices in the tools for the programs. Toss in the Trash, and Dig through the Trash. They do what they seem to. As space is needed, the oldest trash items are removed first, otherwise, the trash stays forever.

Yes. Replace it. Seriously.

I'm laying this down in full over the course of several posts on this blog. From hardware requirements to software and operating system functionality. The whole deal. Free. Steal at will.

Why not try to sell the idea? Simple. No one would ever buy it. And if they did, they wouldn't know how to make it happen. My hope here is that someone will come along, read it, love it and make it happen. Of course, any serious company would never take an idea this way, so for anyone who wants to buy the idea, legit and legal, just contact me. I'll sell it cheap.

So, first things first. Forget everything you already understand about the personal computer. It is a failure for 3 major reasons. Those reasons are:

1. Home and Work PCs are identical.
2. Computer Professionals and Basic Users are forced to use the same hardware and software.
3. Computer Professionals build software to give other Computer Professionals systems they would want.

So what is the fix? Easy, you build a home computer that isn't designed for use by professionals and isn't designed to be a workhorse for business. In other words, you plug it in like a stereo system and it just works.

Blasphemous, Impossible, Outrageous. Sure, I know. But it gets better. The perfect home computer won't let users do these things:

1. Download Software
2. Upgrade
3. Replace Hardware

Oh heavens no! But yes, it is true. And here is why:

1. Download Software

   The perfect home computer would come with all the software that 90% of users want and no more. The 10% of the market you lose is made up for by everyone else on earth who can suddenly use a computer for the first time. New software will magically appear if the computer is connected to the Internet, because it will automatically get new software from the upgrade server. Which leads to...

2. Upgrade

   If the computer is connected to the Internet, it will automatically download upgrades. It won't ask, it just will do, and it will install those upgrades whenever the user restarts the computer on their own, or in another situation I'll talk about eventually. Not connected to the Internet? What do you need security upgrades for?

3. Replace Hardware

   The hardware is locked, and only buying a new version of the home computer will give you an upgrade. However, there will be no need for upgrades to hardware, because the user base doesn't care. As long as the computer doesn't appear slow, they don't care what it has on the inside. People were perfectly happy with 66 megahertz windows 95 machines, it is only the greater needs of the bloated software that requires greater speed.

So, smarty pants, what is the fix? Simple, but not easy. The perfect home computer will require some serious new looks at old problems. Thankfully, I've done most of the work for you. So what does the perfect home computer have? I've broken it down for you:

• Hardware
  • Magic Box
    • Competitive Processor
    • Lots O Ram
    • Decent Graphics Card
    • Decent sound
    • CD/DVD burner
    • Blu-ray and/or HD-DVD
    • Media (all current)
    • USB, Firewire, other buses.
    • 5.1 or even 7.1 surround support
    • HDMI/S-VIDEO/Component Video connections.

    This box sits under the monitor and allows access to all media and buses on the front, sound and other connections on the back.

  • Portable Multi-touch Monitor

    This the first of the more-than-cosmetic new devices. Think of it has a tablet laptop, without the laptop. An iPhone with a bigger screen. It is essentially the pads from Star Trek the Next Generation. This comes with a dock that makes the device just like a traditional monitor and also recharges the batteries, the dock could be built right into the magic box. This device sports a keyboard button that calls up a software keyboard built into the OS. The device connects when disconnected from the dock via wi-fi to allow the monitor to be taken anywhere in a person's house.

  • Wired/wireless Keyboard

    Yes, both. You plug it in to charge the batteries and to get a faster response time.

  • Wired/wireless Mouse

    Yes, both. You plug it in to charge the batteries and to get a faster response time.

  • Web Cam
  • Printer/Scanner
  • 2.1 speakers (L R and sub)
• Software

  This list may not be complete.

  • Office

    It is unavoidable that users will need basic office software. Working at home is inevitable, but basic office software is not the same thing as a working computer. Being able to look at a spreadsheet doesn't require all the systems currently in place on working computers.

    • Word Processor
    • Spreadsheets
    • Presentations (powerpoint)
  • Web
    • Websites
    • Feeds
  • Email
    • Message
    • In box
    • Contacts
  • Photos
    • View
    • Fix
  • Calender
    • Add Event
    • View
  • Games
  • Music
  • Movies
  • IM (all the common ones, integrated.)
  • Webcamming software
• OS
  • Top Bar

    Across the top of the screen will appear a bar, somewhat like the task bar in windows, only it is always full. Every task on the system can be accessed here or on the bottom bar. The top bar shows groupings of common programs, although some items are sub programs as you might have noticed in the software listing. I will detail how the interface functions in great detail and perhaps with flash if I can get it working in it. (I hate flash for this kind of thing, however it is the only rational way to display this kind of thing on line.)

  • Bottom Bar

    Across the bottom of the screen is another bar, this one shows tasks that don't overtake the entire screen. The music button slides out a control pane for adjusting the library or stopping/starting play. The IM button will display current IM conversations and will show your contact list.

  • System

    I said once that there are no control panels or settings or meaningless choices. That isn't 100% true. There are some features that require adjustment. None of these have shortcuts or key bindings to confuse the user. This is the only place to make these changes.

    • Handicap Modes

      Blind support, Deaf Support, Limited Sight Support. A set of radio buttons to decide which is in application here. None of these will make sighted/hearing users lose functionality. They will only enable new things, like a screen-reader for the blind.

    • Mouse

      Sensitivity, double-click speed

    • Keyboard

      The effects of holding down a key, and other usability concerns.

    • Localization

      Each unit will ship set to a certain nationality, and can be changed on first run. However, there is value in being able to switch nationality at a later date.

    • Connection

      Internet connection information. While most of this would happen automatically, or on first run of web/email softwares. This area is required because of the various quirks of the Internet. This is more like another way to reach the backups for all the automatic Internet systems.

  • Automation

    Speaking of automatic systems. Nearly everything that CAN be detected WILL be detected, and in the event of a failure on the part of the OS, it will ask the user for help and suggest places that the user can find help if they need it. The computer is the user's slave. It ASKS for help. I can't stress that enough.

    • Internet Connection

      While there is something dubious about wireless connections, here is a simple process that should get most computers connected. This would auto-run any time the computer can't connect, but intelligently as you will see in another post.

      1. Check for phone line.

         Prompt for number to call and user name and password, or to ignore the phone line.

      2. Check for LAN

         If a wired connection is possible, always choose it.

      3. Check for unsecured Wireless with highest signal strength.

         Ask user if they own or have permission to connect to this connection. Test to ensure it isn't a coffee shop which will redirect all traffic to a sign up plan site.

      4. Check for unsecured Wireless with next highest signal strength.

         Ask like above and continue till all unsecured wireless signals are checked.

      5. Secured Wireless.

         Prompt user for secured wireless password/key or to say they don't have one. If they provide one. Start with highest signal secured wireless and try all types of security.

      6. Failure.

         Offer suggestions for how to fix the problem, or on what options they have to get Internet service.

    • Email

      Provided there is an active Internet connection. Email will ask the user for the connection information for setting up e-mail. It will give detailed information about who to contact and where to look to find this information. As this archaic system will likely be the most difficult part of the setup process. One possible solution to this problem is to prompt the user for their email address and to partner with various providers to pass on to the software as much of the info required as is possible. If the software can ask the user for only an e-mail address and user name/password. That would be ideal.

    • Hardware

      Since the hardware is locked, the system can make really good guesses as to what exactly has gone wrong and take the right action. If the monitor is broken, it will issue verbal audio commands on how to fix it or what to do. If the sound system is broken, it can do the same with the screen. Rather than a cheap solution to big problems, IE, beeps. It should access a special chip set that gives verbal audio descriptions of what is wrong, in the place of numbers of beeps.

    • Upgrades

      As long as the computer is connected to the Internet, it can download automatic upgrades to the computer. This means FREE software, security enhancements and other upgrades. Software is NOT only made by the people who sell the computer. However, it is all distributed through them. Users don't buy the software, instead the company regularly looks at software that other companies build for the system and makes a purchases for all their computers and for all that may exist in the future. These pieces of software need to pass very strict standards, but other aspects of the OS itself will force certain aspects of the software to be well designed. I'll go into that more later.

It is also important to address Mods a bit. A mod is any modification to the system made by the user that isn't intended by the people who manufacture the device. If people in the mod world would like to make this computer do other things, they can have at it. I don't care. The basic user won't do this, and if someone ruins the system by modding it, it isn't the fault of the company that made it. If someone wants to bother, let them. This system isn't out to restrict user's creativity. It is out to give the most common user an easy to use, perfect-out-of-the-box computer for everyday tasks.