The Integrative Stream

Multidinous MIPS, Multiple Monitors, Man Machine Mergers

My friend Jim pointed me to an article in Slate on why you should buy a bigger monitor. It’s a good article, and you should probably buy a big monitor. I use two medium sized ones, which is more or less the same thing. Computers these days are fast - will buying a slightly faster one actually make you more productive?

The article triggered a thought, which is this: we’re at something of an inflection point in personal computing. As the article points out, upgrading computers to get a faster processor just isn’t something you have to do all that often anymore, unless you’re a hard-core gamer. The last time I bought a desktop computer was because I needed another physical computer, not because it’s predecessor had gotten to slow.

So innovation has shifted to finding better ways to get at that processing power. Multiple monitors are an easy way to to do that, at least for people with an Internet oriented working style. It’s incredibly useful for software developers - so much that one of the first things I look for when evaluating a software development team is whether they have enough screen real estate. If they don’t, it’s a pretty good sign that management is saving money in a spectacularly wasteful way. Working on a 15″, or even a 17″ monitor requires a tremendous number of context changes - and each of those changes, besides taking time, distracts the developer from the flow of the task in a way that glancing to the other side of the screen doesn’t.

So for those programmers, buying a bigger screen is going to increase productivity a lot more than a marginal processor speedup would. The effect is less for the average business user, but it’s still real. And a second monitor is cheap - under $250 for a 17″ LCD.

Another example is the scroll wheels that started appearing on mice in the late 1990s and are now pretty much ubiquitous. Being able to scroll a web page without clicking on the side of the window or reaching for the keyboard is a huge time saver. And the scroll wheel was the first major advance in the physical connection between the user since the mouse itself. It’s no surprise that Logitech has come out with the Revolution MX which, in addition to sporting a $99 price tag and a web site that would be more appropriate for a Japanese luxury sedan, purports to take the scroll wheel revolution one step further.

It’s ultimately all about price and performance. Back in January I wrote about Ndyio, which takes another approach to the profusion of raw processing power. It’s a cheap little box that connects a bunch of monitors and keyboards to a single computer running Linux. I’d lost track of it until yesterday, when I saw it mentioned in the Economist’s Technology Quarterly. It solves the problem of what to do with all that surplus computing power by sharing it. Ideal for third world cybercafes, where hardware costs are still a big deal, but also potentially useful for corporate environments and schools, which could benefit from the lower administrative costs associated with having fewer systems to administer.

My readers, if they haven’t abandoned me completely during the blog-dry spell, will likely have other examples.

30,000 Feet

Just a quick check-in, as I still haven’t figured out exactly how I’m going to maintain this site during my Federal career. Although, to be fair, that’s a bit of a cop out, since I’ve been busy enough.

At the moment I’m on the way to HelsIT, the the Health IT conference in Norway. I’m giving a talk on healthcare delivery in the US, and introducing a workshop on the electronic personal health record.

The cool thing is that I’m currently at 37,000 feet (11,200 meters) according to the captain of this Airbus. We’re somewhere over New York. And, thanks to the magic of Boeing’s soon-to-be-discontinued satellite Internet system, I’m online. I haven’t tried Skype yet, but I’m going to give it a shot momentarily.

Sadly, the business model for Boeing didn’t work out - they couldn’t get enough carriers to sign up, and the service is being discontinued as of the end of this year. So I’m glad to have had a chance to try it, even though it means that I’ll spend my next intercontinental flight griping about how I don’t have Internet access.

SAS, incidentally, is a great airline. I’m up in Economy Flex, which has some extra legroom, and, more important, AC power at every seat. So my laptop is plugged in, wide open, and online. It’s like being in the office, except people come by and bring me drinks. And I can simultaneously work and watch Mission Impossible III.

Questionable Carnival of the Capitalists

In a very positive way, of course. Starling Hunter has an excellent question themed edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists up at The Business of America is Business. As usual, great production values.

Where have I been, you may ask? Determining the limits of my freedom of speech. I expect to be back to a normal posting schedule shortly, particularly after PCHRI 2006 is over.