Our work on computers – although devices are becoming faster and more powerful – has basically been organized the same way since the beginning: We start a base system – be it OS X, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, or whatever. Then, to accomplish a specific task, we need an app. If we want to write texts, we use a word processor. If we want to edit images, we use a graphics program. If we want to calculate, we open a spreadsheet.
Why is that so?
This principle is deeply ingrained and has made its way from desktop computers to mobile devices. There, it has even been partially accentuated. While on the desktop, we’re used to using multiple apps in multitasking mode simultaneously, on mobile devices we often find ourselves in a single, very specific app: checking emails, entering appointments, making phone calls, browsing the web. To do this, we start an app that then takes up the entire screen.
This principle seems logical to us. However, it dates back to the early PC era, where – to load an app – you first had to insert a whole set of floppy disks to load the program into memory. Later, the floppy disks disappeared. But since RAM was still precious, the principle of using memory sparingly remained. Apps are loaded into RAM when needed, then pushed back into the inactive background.
The same applies to internet access: Years ago, you had to fire up the modem when you wanted to go online. This took time and was expensive. So, the data line was only turned on when it was absolutely necessary for a task.
These limitations are increasingly disappearing today. We are constantly and everywhere online. Moreover, our devices are so powerful that limited working memory or hard disk space is no longer an issue.
Does it Even Make Sense?
Why should I, as a user, always have to think first about what I want to do, then select and open the right app for this purpose? These are a lot of steps and a lot of know-how before I can even start my creative work. I need to know how to install apps. I need to know file formats. I need to know the names of the installed apps and exactly what they are for. Then I have to find and launch the app on my device. Only then can I start being creative.
Why do I also have to master and update an operating system that basically only serves to organize and provide my apps?
Why am I always working solo on a computer? My computer, my tablet, my smartphone, my app. Wouldn’t the actual need be to work much more collaboratively on something and use apps together?
And where does the idea to do something and thus use an app actually come from? It’s not like I scroll through the installed apps on my device a bit and then decide that I could edit a video. Ideas arise in everyday life, in situations, often in conversations or when working in a team.
So why not Differently?
It’s only logical that developers question this functional app principle. Microsoft, for example, envisions our digital work quite differently in the future: communication-driven.
Communication – be it a chat, a video call, or simply a phone call – is our actual user interface, our new operating system. Communication guides our daily lives, through communication we learn, we come up with ideas. And through communication, we organize our (collaborative) work.
Consequently, in the future, we might not even need Windows anymore. Just Microsoft Teams. And the internet. Similar to ChromeOS, Teams operates as a portal, which essentially provides nothing more than a constant internet workspace. Apps no longer exist in their current form; rather, Microsoft speaks of “Logic” – functional building blocks that are loaded as needed. I no longer need an Office package, but only functions with which I can create texts, paint pictures, or process numbers. I use these logic blocks in my communication as needed. This is how data is created, which in turn is stored in the cloud. This data belongs to me or a team, and that’s why we still need an identity layer through which we are identifiable.
It all sounds a bit abstract at the moment. However, I actually find the concept quite coherent. I’m curious to see what’s in store for us and how the various tech manufacturers envision the overall galaxy alongside their own universe. As a user, it would be very tedious if I had to think my way into many different universes.
