Complete the Revolution

Computerworld - The Information Revolution won't fulfill its promise until we stop thinking as though we're still in the Industrial Revolution, according to Michael L. Dertouzos, director of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science. After 40 years of building computers, little has changed, says Dertouzos, the author of seven books, including his latest, The Unfinished Revolution: Human-Centered Computers and What They Can Do for Us (HarperCollins, 2001). The future of computing lies in "making systems serve humans," he says. "That must be our goal." Computerworld writer Sami Lais interviewed Dertouzos about the future of computing.

You talk about human-centric computing, in which the computer isn't a single device but a room where computing is around you and in the air. How is that different from pervasive computing? There is a lot of confusion between pervasive or ubiquitous computing on the one hand and human-centric computing on the other. They are not the same. Pervasive computing implies a lot of equipment, where the focus is on a lot of devices that are themselves computers. Human-centric computing, however, focuses on the human. Today, computers are hard to use. If we make them more pervasive and use more of them, there will be that much more aggravation around us. By focusing on human-centered systems, we declare that our goal is to serve humans. Whether that calls for more or less stuff is secondary.

In the future computing model you describe, interaction will be speech-activated. Why? Much of it will involve speech understanding, not just speech activation. Speech is natural for people, hence easy to use. That's why human-centered systems need to have speech. Remember, the fundamental thing that will set human-centered systems apart is that the computers will serve you. They won't care how you communicate - whatever way is most comfortable for you. Ironically, computing will follow an old model. It's one that is unsavory for humans but perfect for machines, and that is the many-dumb-servants model. The software that serves you will not take human form like a robot, nor will it have a fuzzy face and big ears. It will simply involve programs that sit there doing the things you want them to do.

Pervasive computing is beginning to be fact: With cell phones, laptops and handhelds, we can work pretty much anywhere. How long before the transformation that lets us do this and more, simply by talking to a room? Pervasive computing is easy. It's what we already have, only more of it. Human-centric computing will take a shift in thinking, and