The message has been clear for months; the internet has been limited through protocols designed in 1994 andwe're now on the verge of a new electronic world. I watched Bill Gates give this message last December at the Strategic Architects Forum in Seattle and it's now becoming very clear what he had in mind.
First the release of the Silverlight beta with vector graphics; then the Silverlight alpha with a downloadable sandbox; and now Surface. I've been telling people in my industry ever since that the world will be dramatically different in 5 years time. I don't think it's been well understood but maybe now it will be different.
When you think of a core Internet application such as Internet Banking you realise that a customer's expectations of what Internet banking is has only been based upon 10 years of experience at most. Five years from now this experience will be very different. Silverlight and Surface will enable whole new styles of user interaction. Interacting with the bank becomes a flick of the wrist!
Now, one last memory from that conference in Seattle: the statement that the Internet is increasingly becoming a mirror of reality. Seems more accurate every day...
