STREAM TONE: The Future of Personal Computing?

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• Publisher: Matador
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781784627928

Imagine... a world where your next personal computing device is the last one that you would ever need to buy. Where you would never need to worry about operating systems, software patches, or viruses. Where you always had enough processing power, memory, storage, and top-of-the-line graphics. Where you could access all of the very best software applications, regardless of their platform. Where you had a constant connection to all your favourite digital services, and your battery lasted for days, perhaps even weeks, of full-on use. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, this is the world of the Stream Tone. A world that does not exist in some far off future; this could be, figuratively speaking, our world a mere five minutes from now. All that is needed to make it a reality is the creative convergence of certain technologies that are already available and in use today. Personal computing is changing from an old world of local services, provided by local devices, to a new world of remote Web-based services, provided by cloud computing-based data centres. The STREAM TONE: The Future of Personal Computing? is a 408-page academically-oriented non-fiction book that explores, in some technical detail, what might be required to make a comprehensive move to this exciting new world, and the many benefits that move could bring. This book not only attempts to make a thorough evaluation of the technology ecosystem that will be required to create this future but also considers many of the implications of such a move. Along the way, it also discusses a wide range of currently-available technologies and how they could possibly be used to enable this future.

1 INTRODUCTION

Our technology is not yet magic; for in the history of such things we are nowhere near the end, in fact, we are not even at the end of the beginning⁹

a) Have you ever looked at your latest personal computing device and wondered what comes next? For as surely as night follows day, something better will soon be along to replace it; because even the most advanced piece of modern technology is pretty much obsolete the moment it is conceived, let alone built. Of course, it will be useful and cherished for a while, but ultimately it represents just the briefest of waypoints on the endless path of progress.

b) Over recent years, personal computing devices have become a lot more powerful and a lot smaller. Some have even become battery powered and wirelessly connected. Advancements that have, collectively, allowed us to leave our homes and offices, and compute on the move, from almost anywhere and at almost any time. These are bold steps forward, to be sure, but the capabilities that can be built directly into our individual personal computing devices, particularly the data processing capabilities built into highly portable devices, will always be finite, and the users of such devices will always push those capabilities to the very limit, no matter how much those capabilities grow over time. What happens when we reach such a limit and there is no more? We will obviously want more. We will probably need more. But, there will be no more. We will have hit a technological brick wall. In a world that has grown accustomed to continuous technological growth the consequences of hitting such a wall will be that progress is slowed, or even halted, in a whole range of different fields that have become highly dependent on the ever increasing capabilities of our personal computing devices. The fact that we know, in advance, that such limits most probably exist raises the very real question of whether or not our current technological goals will always be able to take mankind where it really needs to go in the future. We will always want more, that is a certainty, but what if we want, or even need, our personal computing technology to take us somewhere different, new, and unlimited. What then?

c) Perhaps we need to adopt some new goals before we start to hit the limits of our current personal computing technologies. Goals that will let us achieve more than we ever thought possible, wherever we are, whatever we are doing, and not just individually but collectively as well. What if our personal computing devices worked in a fundamentally different way? What if personal computing could be redesigned to support both accelerated advancement and technological stability at the same time? What if the connectivity of our personal computing devices became more important than their built-in capabilities? What if instead of a future where everyone carries a supercomputer in their pocket, we simply carry a connection to a computing service that is inherently capable of meeting all our digital needs forever. Such an approach would be even better than each of us having our very own supercomputer because when we weren’t using it, somebody else could. Wouldn’t that be a much more efficient, equitable, and sensible approach to personal computing? It could help take computing, and mankind along with it, into a new and exciting world of unimagined possibilities, where science fiction finally starts to become science fact.

d) A world where your next personal computing device is the last one that you would ever need to buy. Where you would never need to worry about operating systems, software patches, or viruses. Where you always had enough processing power, memory, storage, and top-of-the-line graphics. Where you could access all of the very best software applications, regardless of their platform. Where you had a constant connection to all of your favourite digital services, and your battery lasted for days, perhaps even weeks, of full-on use. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, this is the world of the Stream Tone. A world that does not exist in some far off future; this could be, figuratively speaking, our world a mere five minutes from now. All that is needed to make it a reality is the creative convergence of certain technologies that are already available and in use today.

1.1 WHAT IS THE STREAM TONE?

The what

a) The Stream Tone is a concept that is based on the technology of data streaming, also known as bit-streaming or pixel-streaming, and it will be the next step in the evolution of personal computing. Data streaming is not a new technology, it has been around in one form, or another, for many, many years. In fact, radio is a data streaming technology, and so is television. There are also many modern Web-based services that are based on data streaming technologies. Data streaming, is a client-server technology, where data is continuously transmitted from a server to a simple client, of generally singular function, in the same way that the old mainframe computers transmitted alpha-numeric data to their dumb access terminals. Today, cloud computing-based data streaming supports a very wide range of fully-interactive Web-based services, such as computer-aided design, computer gaming, data processing and storage, language translation, music on demand, navigation, office productivity, remote computer desktops, social networking, telephony, video conferencing, video on demand, and voice-controlled information search, to name but a few. The Stream Tone will support all these things, and much, much, more.

b) The Stream Tone will enable Comprehensive Remote Personal Computing (CRPC), which is a Web-oriented approach to personal computing in which local personal computing functionality, previously provided by technologies such as operating systems and software applications, is either migrated in toto onto the Web or replaced with equivalent Web-based services that are then remotely accessed over the Internet. CRPC will even replace existing Web-based services that are currently accessed using a local Web browser, with remotely-sourced Web browsing services. CRPC is comprehensive because it will replace not just some but all of such functionality, and also because it will be a remote personal computing solution that is suitable for use by everyone, everywhere, including the billions of people that have not yet been able to fully embrace the Internet, personal computing, and Web. The Stream Tone will move remote personal computing from the niche to the mainstream.

c) The Stream Tone will be a stream of streams, in the same way that the Internet is a network of networks. The Stream Tone will represent both a sage step backwards, a return to the simplicities of the past, and a bold step forward, into an even more rapidly evolving and complex future. In many ways the Stream Tone will be nothing that has not been seen before, but, in other ways, it will be unique, and it will change the world. No single technology will enable the Stream Tone. It will be an aggregate of many, many, different technologies, each contributing a small but vital part to a whole that is so much more than just the sum of those individual parts. When considered from a certain perspective the Stream Tone will be incredibly simple, straightforward, and maybe even elegant, but the aggregated technologies behind it will have a very real complexity; just like all the other systems that currently power the Internet and the Web.

d) The Stream Tone will be an adaptive, bi-directional, intelligent, low-latency, real-time, secure, data streaming communications protocol designed to support the use of CRPC services accessed via computer networks, such as the Internet. The Stream Tone communications protocol will be the heart of a technology ecosystem that will also include an access device, service infrastructure, and telecommunications infrastructure.

e) The communications protocol of the Stream Tone will be known as the Stream Tone Transfer Protocol (STTP), the access device of the Stream Tone will be known as the Stream Tone Access Device (STAD), the service infrastructure of the Stream Tone will be known as the Stream Tone Service Infrastructure (STSI), the telecommunications infrastructure of the Stream Tone will be known as the Stream Tone Telecommunications Infrastructure (STTI), and, collectively, these elements will be known as the Stream Tone Technology Ecosystem (STTE). The Stream Tone will also be a generic term that can be used, depending on context, interchangeably with STTE and STTP.

f) The Stream Tone will be used to deliver Web-based digital content and services that will then be accessed using a hardware-based thin client that is conceptually similar to a dumb computer terminal. The access device will have a fixed functionality, and will be nonprogrammable. The access device will wholly rely on remotely-sourced services for the provision of user-oriented functionality.

g) The Stream Tone will be used to access all existing Web-based digital content and services, as well as new content and services that will be specifically created for use with Stream Tone-based technologies. Functionality that was previously provided by local personal computing devices, such as application software and desktop operating systems, will be migrated onto the Web, into data centres, and accessed remotely. The Stream Tone will rely on cloud computing-based service infrastructures that are able to provide affordable, low-latency, reliable Web-based services through the efficient and effective use of data centre resources. The Stream Tone will be compatible with current and next generation service infrastructures. The hardware and software used by such service infrastructures may need to be optimised in order to support the operational characteristics required to provide Stream Tone-based services.

h) The Stream Tone will be designed for use on packet-switched computer networks, such as the Internet, and will be dependent on third-party telecommunications infrastructures that are able to provide highly affordable, high bandwidth, low latency, highly reliable, and ubiquitously available Internet connectivity. The Stream Tone will be compatible with current and next generation telecommunications infrastructures. The hardware and software used by such telecommunications infrastructures may need to be optimised in order to support the operational characteristics required to deliver Stream Tone-based services.

i) The diagram¹⁰ presented in Figure 1 shows a simplified and stylised view of the key entities, and the interactions between those entities, that the Stream Tone will support. A user will interact with a STAD. The STAD will use a STTI to communicate with a STSI using the STTP. A STSI will use a STTI to communicate with a STAD using the STTP. The STSI can also use a STTI to access the Web via the Internet. A STSI is actually a part of, or a subset of, the Web and a STTI is actually a part of, or a subset of, the Internet, even though they have been presented as distinct entities on this diagram.

Figure 1: The Stream Tone

1.2 WHY IS IT NEEDED?

The why

a) Is the Stream Tone needed just because personal computing may be heading towards some sort of technological brick wall, as was suggested at the start of this chapter? Perhaps in part, but mainly it is because personal computing is continually subject to change. This is, of course, a rather strange thing to suggest because change is, on the whole, a very good thing. Change represents advancement, evolution, improvement, replacement, and succession. Change is about fixing things that are broken. Change is about discovery. Change is a stimulant. Change is interesting. Change is what colours our lives. Change is what makes tomorrow different from today. Change is what allows us to make the world a better place. Change, however, often comes with a price, and the continuous fast-paced change that is a mark of our technologically-oriented modern world means that we pay that price, in a whole variety of ways, again and again and again, at what seems to be an ever quickening pace. Change has, in many instances, become both inconvenient and costly. The Stream Tone is a way to reduce some of the cost and to limit some of the inconvenience of change as it relates to personal computing.

b) In terms of personal computing, change can bring new communications technologies, devices, operating systems, peripherals, software applications, and Web-based services. Some of these changes will be available free-of-charge, but many will not. One thing, in particular, that is rarely available for free is your personal computing device, which can be a real problem if it needs to be replaced on a regular basis because of obsolescence, whether real or imagined. Most personal computing devices can easily last for a decade, or more, if they are well maintained, yet, few are actively used for such a duration. In general, personal computing devices become obsolete very quickly, often within a few short years. In fact in many developed countries, the rapid obsolescence of modern personal computing devices, such as smart-phones and tablet computers, has become widely accepted as simply the price that must be paid for technological advancement in our continually modernising world. Even the most sophisticated and capable devices are now considered to be largely disposable, little more than the casual consumables of a modern life. There are many reasons for this obsolescence, but all are due to some form of change. Sometimes it is due to new software applications or operating systems that will not run optimally, or are not available for use, on a current device. Sometimes it is due to the emergence of a new device form factor that enables personal computing to take place in unusual circumstances or locations that are not supported by a current device. Sometimes it is due to the fact that a current device does not support a new type of communications technology, malware defence, peripheral, or Web-based service and cannot be easily or cost-effectively upgraded to do so. In fact, on many occasions the reasons for obsolescence are incredibly trivial, such as an existing device being the wrong colour, shape, size, or weight. On other occasions, incredible though it may seem, obsolescence seems to have been purposefully engineered directly into devices through the use of poor product designs that, for instance, do not support even the most basic repairs, and the use of construction materials that seem destined to fail in some way just after a device’s warranty period comes to an end, with the result that it seems to be far more cost effective to simply buy a more modern replacement than to attempt any sort of fix, even when the underlying fault is relatively minor and the device is still largely functional. Of course, it is always possible to make-do with an older device, to run previous generation software applications and operating systems, to forego the latest capabilities, and to ignore minor functional failures, but few people do. Most people want to ride on, or, at the very least, near technology’s leading edge. They want, and in many cases need, to be able to use all the latest technological capabilities, not just because of the increasingly important role that all forms of personal computing play within modern business and personal life, but also because such capabilities are no longer seen as optional but as non-negotiable necessities of the progressive modern lifestyle to which most people now aspire. The problem is that staying on, or even close to, that leading edge comes with a price, a price that many people simply cannot afford, especially when it is a price that must be paid on an increasingly regular basis.

c) For some people, especially those in developing countries, purchasing a personal computing device is a big decision, as it represents the expenditure of a significant portion of annual household income. It is a purchase that cannot be regularly repeated just because something new has come along, technological fashion trends have changed, or a device has broken. There just isn’t the money. Ideally, for such people, personal computing devices would remain functional and relevant for many, many years; unfortunately, obsolescence, brought about by the rapid pace of technological change, fickle personal tastes, poor design, and even peer pressure, makes that very unlikely. Also, some lower-cost devices, that are available in developing countries, are just not built to last, or be repaired. Some are constructed from low-grade materials that will quickly degrade, and eventually cause a device to fail long before the end of its expected life. This means that another device will need to be purchased, within a year or two, if it can be afforded. Of course, the cost of many new personal computing devices, particularly smart-phones and tablet computers, have become much lower recently, and can therefore be afforded by many more people, particularly those in developing countries. Nevertheless, the speed at which such devices become obsolete and need to be replaced is a problem that affects everyone, everywhere, rich and poor alike, and whilst the rich can easily afford to regularly upgrade their devices, the poor cannot. This continuous upgrade cycle potentially excludes, or delays, the less affluent members of global society from participating in some of the newest and most important aspects of the modern world. This is, of course, wholly understandable given the nature of global wealth distribution and the rapid pace of technological change, but it is very far from fair. It is also highly nonsensical from the perspective of an efficient and effective use of the natural resources required to produce such devices, something that really should not be the norm in what is supposed to be the enlightened twenty-first century. We should know better. In fact, we already do know better, we just need to start putting what we know into practice.

d) The Stream Tone will enable a much fairer and more cost-effective approach to personal computing through the use of a highly-affordable, long-lasting, thin client access device, and a new data-streaming communications protocol, which will be used to access a comprehensive range of Web-based content and services. The Stream Tone will be able to converge all of today’s various data streams into a single stream, a stream of streams, that is capable of serving the personal computing needs of a whole planet, and, by so doing, usher in a period of accelerated advancement and technological stability. The simultaneous achievement of both accelerated advancement and technological stability is somewhat contradictory and highly counter-intuitive. However, it is the very real product of decoupling the development of Web-based services from the development and maintenance of the device used to access those services. The device that will be used to access Stream Tone-based services will have a completely fixed functionality, just like a non-programmable, dumb, computer terminal, ensuring that all service development will be limited to only the computer servers and data centres that are used to provide those services. This access device will never become obsolete, subject to attack by malware, or require regular maintenance; primarily because it will not contain an operating system or support the direct execution of software applications. It will also be completely immune to the adverse effects of any technological brick wall that may arise in the future, such as the ending of Moore’s Law. It will be a purely hardware...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Colophon
• Dedication
• Contents
• 0 Prologue
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Past
• 3 The Present
• 4 The Future
• 5 Reflections
• 6 Conclusion
• 7 Epilogue
• 8 Endnotes