With technological improvements, cost reductions and performance advantages, flat panel displays are expected to replace CRTs in the market within two years. The physiques of other devices will change as well. Apple delivered a wake-up call to the market with iMac, and Intel has responded with a cutting edge design of its own. Board manufacturers like MSI Computer Corp. are now moving aggressively to the MicroATX parts that can be used in a number of unique ways. And finally, the age of the beige PC box is drawing to a close and we are about to see an influx of small, attractive and surprisingly capable personal computers.
User interface is one of the most remarkable arenas for change.
Technologies from Dragon Systems Inc. and IBM are likely to turn the mouse and keyboard of today into the dinosaurs of tomorrow. One of the most intriguing replacements for the keyboard is the digital recorder coupled with speech recognition software. This allows a user to create a document when a keyboard and mouse are impractical, and foretells a time when we will put on our computers in the morning much the same way we now put on a shirt. In fact, the shirt will be the computer. These technologies will all begin to come together in 2002.