Tech update
In the 1960s and 1970s technology tend to grow at an almost biological rate. Growth rate follows a gradual S curve over time. These technologies later became the infrastructure of today's society. In those day, people dont really care if the technology is going to bring any changes to them.
Back then inventors and adopters let the technology grow by itself. The result can be seen in microprocessors and netwoks. Nobody predicted the PC is going to be as big as it is today. Nobody pour tonnes of cash in to network technology to see its share prices go up overnight. Dont get me wrong here. People do spend a lot of money on infrastructure. But the money spent goes to the implementation of such infrastructure, not investment per say
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Unlike today, people tend to expect technology to grow exponentially. Thanks to the capitalist mindset that has been planted in the minds of adopters and also the modern day soothsayers predicting what the future is going to be like with the adoption of a particular technology. On the other side of the storyboard, modern day heretics will always be there to condem the technology and so forth.
Over the past few weeks, a few reports from notable research firm predicted that WLAN is going to suffer the same fate as the dot coms. Ironically, in the late 90s, these firms were the one lauding the drums for inverstors to pour money into dot com. Perhaps if the trend were to be allowed to grow steadily in an almost linear fashion, the outlook on the dot com scenario would indeed be different. But the past is the past, no point fretting over it.
Let's look into the future. Again, the soothsayers are beating their drums again. Not that I'm saying they are wrong. But what Im saying is, they look into their crystal balls with the intention of making money, not for the sake of the technology.
Pyramid Research, in their research Worldwide Wi-Fi predicts 700million Wifi users by 2008. While the statement might give a sigh of relief to investors, it is a double edged sword. Statements like this brought the dot coms to its knees. Looking at their projection, again, the rate of adoption seemed to be exponential.

Source: Pyramid Research
But then again, Wi-Fi adoption is becoming more and more evident. While the current deal between Linksys and Intel may cause an alarm or two to be triggered in the industry. But i believe, in the long run it will make Wi-fi more ubiquitous, hence add value to the technology. Afterall a little competition is always good. Other than that, a lot of future equipment are being bundled together with wi-fi or at least have the ability to add wi-fi. Most PDAs are now Wi-Fi enabled. Even Fujifilm have come out with a prototype of a Wi-Fi Enabled digital camera. Now, wouldn't that be fun?
On future technology, more and more people are talking about Ultra Wide Band (UWB). Here's the latest from electricnews.
Last but not the least, Malaysian made tablet PC got a mention in The Gadget Blog.
"Little angels hang above my heads and read me like an open book...", Angels Of the Silences, Counting Crows
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