It’s 2017. The year when cars started to drive by themselves, hamburgers can be made in a factory and Alexa is ruling your home environment. This might sound like a science fiction movie to you but we are at the cusp of something bigger than we have ever imagined.
We’re going to dive into the future, visualized by the world’s leading tech companies. How do they see the world in the future & what effects do these changes have on the way that we work? Let’s find out!
Microsoft or Macrosoft?
We believe the future of work will be centered around people. – Microsoft
Bringing people together in better ways, both in-person and remotely is the main focus. Microsoft wants to create a smart multi-user space that allows team members to work together on projects. Video live streams in high quality with real-time translation and annotations, which will have educational purposes as well as business purposes. Team members can join and share information with each other, whilst not even being in the room together.
I hear you: we can already do that with video calling, Whatsapp, Skype or what not. Agreed. But, combining all of the above in a smoothly operating mixed reality is the very next step!
Living smarter, that’s what we all want, right? We’ll even be more flexible while still being a productive as ever. Your personal & professional life become one, as you make up your own daily calendar. Shared workspaces and real-time data will make jobs easier accessible & you’re able to quickly match an expert with the right criteria. The content you make can automatically be composed into a document, full of live data and interactive content. The intelligence will adapt to you, instead of the other way around.
Naturally switching between platforms, like 3D holograms, seem to be really futuristic. However, these things exist or operate on their own already. The ‘organic’ part comes in when all of these are connected with each other. vitality and the real world come together if data & information are automatically organised in your actual world. Basically, we get a smart-ass assistant, who doesn’t need to be paid. Win-win!
Conversations and environments are going to shift according to Microsoft. ‘The office’ is no longer an actual office. You’re able to switch from a phone conversation in earpieces to video chats and even holographic visuals. As soon as you enter a space, you’re connected to your own projects, so you can resume where you left off. Transferring files is going with ease because everything is connected with each other. Flexible devices also give you multiple ways to showcase content and interact with it. Endless possibilities!
Intel(ligence)
Intel is taking a different route in their future vision. They’re comparing the current work environment with the future work environment. Intel is bringing more to the table than just a vision about the future. We can actually see the difference since they’re literally shown alongside each other. Both ‘Nates’ are competing with each other, but the future Nate is clearly winning when it comes to time, professionalism and accessibility. Intel is showing us the following tech specs:
- Secured facial login
- Voice assistant
- Wireless docking & charging
- Wireless data transfer
- Cloud-based Services
- Real Sense Technology
You basically have all of these separately, except for the last one. Real Sense Technology is standing out from the crowd. That’s the one you’re actually quite curious for: what does it even mean?
They also made this ad with Sheldon, from the show the Big Bang Theory, which is quite funny to watch!
An Apple a day
Of course, we should be talking about the elephant in the room, Apple, a brand that has really opened our eyes to the possibilities of technology.
But to be honest, Apple has never released a video of the future of work like Microsoft and Intel, however, they turned it around with the following one: APPOCALYPSE App. Apocalypse, see what they did there? Even though this might be an ‘old’ one, it’s still pretty funny, so give it a watch!
Blurred lines
To conclude; our ratio is going to change – or probably already changing. There’s no longer a straight line between work life and personal life. When we adopt new technologies. we become more dependent on them. This can be a good thing; working from home may be the standard and virtual office meetings definitely decrease your daily commute.
Yet we have to wonder: would technology be worth it? Could there be a downside on any of this, or is it all well and wonders? Privacy, advertising & data usage are a few of these topics where we should definitely keep an eye on. NOT a digital eye.
