Dumb Software
You know my PC makes
these nature sounds (Microosoft PLUS experience)
every time I boot up and switch off. But I fail to understand, why does it make
a night sound, when I’m switching it off in an
afternoon? Software – Dumb Software.
I run a program from
command line mode. The name of the program is ‘sway’. If I type swat, it says
‘not recognized’. When is it going to come up with ‘Hey, did you mean ‘sway’,
the usual program that you use’? Software – Dumb Software.
When I use a synthesized voice command software like Dragon, it has to
be trained to get used to my voice before I start using it. It means my wife, my kids have to have a second ‘GO’ to train it to
listen to their voice. Why is it not possible for the machine to understand
that Indians from South speak like this, the north like that, and so on? Software - Dumb Software.
While I’m using any IDE,
if I misspell a variable it is caught in the compilation. Why is there no auto
detect? Software – Dumb Software.
Search Engines like
Google are crude. Asking us to enter the most likely thing
that we need info on. Why can’t it work like my brain.
Yeah, one does. It’s called Web Brain. But if you look underneath, it is
nothing but a souped up version of
Google. When is the computer going to play me
‘Beethoven’ when I’m in the mood? Software – Dumb Software.
I hear all that AI has to
do, will do and won’t do. What happened to MIT’s ‘Project Oxygen’? How
good are the ASIMO robots? Speech and Pattern recognition would change the face
of computing and we will come to accept computers not just as our extensions,
but as our partners. The question is how good?
Recently I worked with a
jobs and career portal. Here’s the scene today: Candidates list their resumes
in all possible job sites like ‘Monster’ , ‘Dice’ etc.
Why don’t we make it easy for them. Just enter once
and you may hit any of the site, for appropriate
results. I’m talking about a market place. (social
computing) Kill the competition. In the end, it’s about the customer and the
experience that he gets. He comes first. Ditto with other apps. Why does a
person have to list himself at all marriage sites, when only one meta site could have made his life easier?
Wireless is ready to take
off with media as it’s spouse. Which
simply means that, all those irritating messages that we get on our mobile
phones, would now be animated. Yes, one good thing is – we will be able
to watch TV on the phone. But I wonder who would want to watch ‘Sharon
Stone’ on a hand-held when the movie screens
also don’t seem to be big enough to contain her?
I read somewhere that by
2027, the CPU which comes out will be as powerful as all the computers of
today, put together. I’m wondering if all this power can be put to good use,
and after all what is a good use? That which makes us money or that which emphasizes
universal principles?
Rajesh Menon (Nickname Guru30)
e-mail: rajesh.menon@guru-30.com
Website: www.guru-30.com
Tel: 91-22-25890408
Mobile: 9867071790