Looking forward

DECEMBER 2004 n W 3 he holiday season always seems to bring just enough hard-won perspective to inspire fresh assessments of the dwindling year and predictions for the one to come. That’s why we’ve handed the lion’s share of our December issue to regular netWorker contributor and keen observer of digital culture Aaron Weiss for his “Trends for 2005” cover story. Perhaps the most telling of Weiss’s observations involves the big picture: Virtually all the current trends in computing lead back to the quality, efficiency, or security of our “connectedness.” When netWorker was launched eight years ago, network computing was a field filled with obvious potential. Now it defines the digital realm, and it in no small measure shapes the day-to-day lives of people all over the world. That reality has, in turn, reflected back on the computing industries. Focus has only recently shifted away from purely technical achievements in favor of a new awareness and understanding of the way people actually use their computers. According to Weiss, relatively new technologies such as broadband-over-powerline (BPL) and the satellite-based WildBlue will vie for the right to bring broadband access to a public that has been less than thrilled by their choices in this area. Meanwhile, Yahoo! And Microsoft are among the companies proposing new email authentication systems in an effort to thwart the public’s single biggest source of online angst: email fraud and spam. And companies far and wide are devising ingenious new ways to give people the mobile media and gaming they want. It’s all quite enough to make one look forward to the surprises that 2005 will inevitably bring. Real progress may come slowly, but it’s generally worth the wait. Now, if we could just fix those digital voting machines...