To a large extent, the laptop has already replaced the desktop PC. The new wireless gadget in comparison with the current personal computer is a “dumb terminal”. In the 60’s and 70’s, terminals displayed software that ran from mainframe computers. Soon history will repeat itself, the gadget will be the new terminal and cloud computing will be the new mainframe. All your data and application software will be run from the cloud, the cloud is just a farm of supercomputers all linked together by the web.

If you think about it, it makes sense. The typical school, college, university or company employs a Network Manager and an army of computer technicians to service the current computer system. In the future it will be more cost effective to pay a subscription service for data and application software running in the cloud. In the end, the current complex hardware and software structure will be replaced by the cloud. It is likely that the big brand names of the present; namely Google, Apple, Oracle and Microsoft will be running the cloud.

The current gadgets are mainly smart phones and tablets, the Microsoft Pocket PC is already in decline. Recently, there has been a lot of interest in Google Android phones and Apple Ipads; these new gadgets already run a proprietary version of Linux.

In Microsoft’s new Windows 8, “Cloud and Gadget Computing” will take a more active role. They have included extra support for a low-power embedded mobile processor; the StrongARM chip. Windows 8 also features a new Metro-style interface that is designed for touch screen input and the “Windows To Go” feature for booting directly from Flash memory drives.

I expect there to be some amalgamation of computer and digital TV technologies, with new cloud connected set top boxes becoming more common in the home. They will likely utilise your large flat screen TV with surround sound and your remote control unit will be replaced by a wireless touch screen gadget.

I also think smarter car gadgets will become standard in new cars. These car gadgets will use Wi-Fi, GPS, DAB and cloud technologies. Your car gadget will include office applications running from the cloud, an internet browser, a digital radio, a mp3/mp4 player, a sat nav, and provide traffic and tourist information.

The cloud applications will be designed to run through a standard internet browser. This is already the case with existing web mail like Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo. The software will be written in Java because of its platform portability, and its object orientated design approach which aids software code maintenance and reuse. All application and operating system software will be free but you will pay for a subscription service to use the cloud.

As most of the processing is performed in the cloud, the gadgets will be cheap and easily replaced items. The gadgets will not be designed with repair in mind, the average Computer Technician will be just like the average TV repair man, redundant!

The gadgets will run all their software from firmware, likely very fast flash memory, so they will turn on almost instantly. Because the software cannot be changed, computer problems related to software corruption and virus/malware tampering will not exist. Overall the security in effect will be built-in and will be upgraded by reflashing the gadget by manufacturer firmware updates. You will not have to worry about losing your data as it will be automatically backed up in the cloud. The security related to internet banking will be standardised by the banks and again built-in to the firmware.

Many companies might be thinking I could not trust my data with a third party company. The reality might be the opposite; it would be better to leave your data with a professional cloud company who have considerable expertise, rather than doing it yourself and getting it badly wrong, because you do not have the required skill set. Yet again, the security of your data would likely be standardised and built-in.

Without your company data, your company is close to finished. At present, the average company does not have a clearly defined “Disaster Recovery Policy”; you are only as good as your testing. How do you know if you are backing up the correct data? Without a proper computer backup test procedure, a company does not know whether their current backups are viable. Most companies do not periodically test to see if the backups could be restored to a bare-metal computer (i.e. a clean computer installed from scratch), and afterwards, whether the computer system is fully functioning.

Aberystwyth Computer Repair By Terry Spiers – http://www.MendPC.net – Aberystwyth Computer Clinic © 2012 MendPC.net