What if we told you our environment is in trouble?
Your first thoughts are probably of global warming, natural disasters, or polar bears – but that’s not what we’re talking about.
Regardless of your position on the global environment, there’s another environment under attack – our computing environment – the cyberspaces through which we all compute and communicate. And there’s a lot less up for debate; think about it:
- You’re being spied on, spammed, and scammed;
- Identities are being stolen, real money is being lost and wasted;
- Viruses are constantly spreading and doing damage; and
- Systems and applications are freezing, crashing, and bloating.
This "pollution" of our computing environment is seriously affecting our lives and our productivity – and no one is immune. But, it's not just this sabotage (intentional or unintentional) that we have to contend with. The nature of the computing environment itself – with its built-in limitations and weaknesses – gives rise to all kinds of frustrations. Who hasn't complained about:
- Paying full price for software you barely use;
- Tracking passwords for every website you belong to;
- Not having enough portability between home and office; and
- Having to know more about technology than you should.
This list could go on for days. Whether it's a computer, cell phone, or any other computing device or appliance, we can't get away from the ongoing disappointments of high-tech junk.
The problem is not with our applications, and another "killer app" won't fix it. The trouble we face is with the environment in which these applications run. The World Wide Web and today's computer operating systems are the weak link.
