Last month I’ve stated that I don’t see visual communications done in software anytime soon. But then the question is when – when WILL visual communications be prominent in software solutions?
I’d like to risk it and come up with an answer that is a bit counterintuitive even to me: never.
Software is never going to be the path to go with visual communications. And why is that? Because as we get closer to a point in time, when the processing capabilities of PCs and laptops are adequate for video conferencing applications, we are also getting closer to the days when the PCs and laptops are going to fade away.
For those of you who came from a different planet and have just landed, here’s an update: Apple just launched the iPad. And while the feedback about it has been less than fanatic, it did bring about a discussion about the future of computing. Or more accurate, about the end of personal computing as we know it.
Some people don’t like the iPad for some reason
A few examples:
- Nancy Nally from WebWorkerDaily contemplates taking an iPad in her next travel as her main computing device.
- Gaming, which moved from Wii, Playstation and Xbox to the iPhone is now making its way to the iPad, at least that’s what a Slashdot user thinks. I tend to agree – gaming have already moved from PCs to computing devices.
- Fraser Speirs on iPhone Central explains how the iPad is suitable for all the people who are “PC-challenged” – there are more of those than technical savvy people…
- Ethan Nicholas, a guest poster on TechCrunch thinks his mom needs an iPad and not a PC – I couldn’t agree more. My sister, farther-in-law and neighbors should get one as well.
While the iPad might not be the best computing device, with all the bells and whistles it was rumored to have, it is definitely going to have its affect on the market (and on Apple’s bottom line). We are moving to an era of connected devices, where laptops and PCs just don’t make sense to most users. It’s not that these will die – they just won’t be dominant.
What does this mean to visual communications? That just like the rest of the applications, they will migrate to connected devices. You can call it software, but I believe they will get their hardware acceleration and will get embedded into the heart of the devices instead of being downloaded into them.
In a way, it means an end to the software clients.
Will that really happen? Probably not, but I’d say it does bring back the emphasis to embedded solutions when it comes to visual communications.
Tags: acceleration, Apple, Clients, communication, gaming, Hardware Acceleration, HD, iPad, Processing, software, UI, video conferencing, Visual communications
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