Ray Ozzie, the new Chief Software Architect at Microsoft, in a recent interview for Wired verbalized rather well the compelling force of software: "I love software, because of you can imagine something, you can build it." These days, the trend is cloud computing - PCs are loosing relevance, applications are becoming Web services and local data storage is no longer cool in the face of the promises (unfulfilled yet) of ever-better sync. But look at this trend from a point of view of someone who is not into software 24/7 - what do you see? Aha - the sync part! These days it's about building ties from software to the real world. We've amassed plenty of bits and now it's time to try to rip the benefits of our accomplishments in the space of atoms. Kind of a "translational science" endeavor... Apple's iPhone is the prime example with it's focus on location-aware features. Of course, Google Maps is the integral part of what makes this magic actually work - it is the bits-to-atoms glue in this particular case.
Google Earth is now available as a browser plugin for Macs and for a fantastic demo, try driving a virtual milk truck around the virtual globe! Granted, this is pure software (strictly, the front end of it is; I am not considering the satellites, planes, cars outfitted with cameras, people scanning local newspapers for information that ends up in maps), but it's a crucial enabler in bits-to-atoms "sync" when it has anything to do with physical location. Imagine taking a virtual drive around the streets of Boston in preparation for being truly stuck in very real traffic!
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