Filed under: Microsoft
Microsoft imagines 2019
And it looks like Microsoft is betting on touchscreen devices -- and hoping that its Surface technology will grow up and gain wider acceptance.
Long Zheng at I Started Something found a longer version of the video with even more goodies tucked away. Perhaps the things that surprise me the most are how much legroom you'll have on airplanes in 2019... and the fact that Microsoft thinks there'll still be something vaguely resembling a newspaper 10 years from now.
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
gmbyronxvi said 9:59AM on 3-01-2009
Notice Windows XP running on Targets (it is Target, I know their store layout system) employee's PDT. Some Target stores actually piloted the "e-ink" price tag system. I worked in one that had that and its pretty cool. Safes tons of time, but glitches out all the time.
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Drew Green said 9:59AM on 3-01-2009
That'd be sweet if it's how it really is, but I'm guessing that's closer to 50 years from now rather than 10.
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Daz said 9:59AM on 3-01-2009
if this so happens i am SO messing with one of them tech keys or whatever and turning it into a skeloten key
shit will be so cash
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Ethan said 9:59AM on 3-01-2009
They've sure got an imagination if they're still relevant.
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KarlW said 9:59AM on 3-01-2009
Yea, this is the same company that thought Vista was good value. The same company whose division chiefs were emailing each other after macworld about how awesome OSX Tiger was and how they couldn't compete with search as fast as Spotlight.
Microsoft has made concepts before; they're good at it. Pretty much all of Windows Longhorn was made in flash. It's when they tried to turn that in to reality that things got complicated and they had to reset the code base.
Ethan said 1:00PM on 3-01-2009
Or the computer industry just moves really fast and that Microsoft has managed to be the industry leader for this long is really surprising.
inteller said 11:05AM on 3-01-2009
I think they are underestimating the amount of crime and poverty in our future that will split this little utopian vision down the middle. My vision of the future looks more like Mike Judge's Idiocracy.
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csb1227 said 1:32PM on 3-01-2009
I have to agree. This looks 'cool' but think of how much it would cost. Is your average (in debt up to their eyeballs) American still going to think they need the latest and greatest? And I still have a hard time believing that paper will ever be totally replaced. I think folks still want hard copies of important documents.
Samuel said 11:05AM on 3-01-2009
Of all the Vista advertising, the recent pairing of old boss and comedy star, the side comments by ballmer (and not forgetting the mentions at WWDC) this is the best PR move they have made to recent memory.
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DeoWulf said 4:34PM on 3-01-2009
Indeed... I actually feel moved to like them more as a company because of their dreams. Of course, that will be irrelevant if the next gen Zune isn't the great device I'm saving my money for. Dreams are nice, but deliver, deliver, deliver!
Doug H said 11:17AM on 3-01-2009
Very cool. However, there needs to be some upper management changes for MSFT to be part of 2019. MSFT is now a follower, not a leader...stuck in 1999.
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Roland Koch Wixer said 2:33PM on 3-01-2009
Dreamer you're a little dreamer...
If one thing is for sure, than that Microsoft's vision never came true. They may dream such things but they are not that innovative and never did catch a trend at the right time in the past.
and honestly, that nice, bright world they predict doesn't address one single important problem of today. Nor does it solve the current or the future ones!
Hey Microsoft, let Apple serve the glossy lovers and add some value to your vision!!!
Phantasien fieberkranker Hirne!
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DeoWulf said 4:32PM on 3-01-2009
Well they did have gardens on top of all the future buildings in the full-length one. So that's nice, I guess.
Kyle said 3:37PM on 3-01-2009
I guess I am not seeing things that amaze me.
Touch screens, remote control touch screens that control bigger screens.
The hospital vision thing was impressive, but I dont see one innovation that truly helps a society create jobs or better living.
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Raffi said 7:30AM on 3-02-2009
Well this is from Microsoft so its about the software not the display technology. It's a benchmark for interface design and seamless connected systems.
John Leschinski said 6:34PM on 3-01-2009
Not everything has to be about saving the world.
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John said 6:41PM on 3-01-2009
So they think that popup ads will have been eliminated in 10 years?
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Evenio said 10:27AM on 3-02-2009
Of course; none of the Microsoft-approved sites will be permitted to use popups. Such distractions will end up going the way of the free market, dissenting views and the dodo bird. :)
Kuswanto said 10:29PM on 3-01-2009
that's a total rip off of minority report with a more colorful interface.
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Mc.Fishie said 7:30AM on 3-02-2009
Imagine a bug free version of windows.... That DEFIANTLY wont be done by 2019....
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