By Richard Cole
Bruce Tognazzini, distinguished engineer and interface guru from SunSoft, did not mince words when he described the future of information technology at UniForum '95's second keynote address on Mar. 15. "All hell is about to break loose," he cheerfully informed the overflow crowd. He then presented a freewheeling, insightful, and exciting preview of the next 10 years and how technology will affect our increasingly on-line society.
According to Tognazzini, the explosion of the Internet, along with the growth of other areas such as satellite communications and fiber optics, will create an interactive world of flattening, if not crumbling, hierarchies. Governments and their artificial political boundaries will lose meaning in the face of global information networks. As he put it, "Customs can't stop bits." He added, tongue mostly in cheek, that with the advent of digital money, "taxes will become voluntary," a remark greeted with applause from the audience.
Describing future developments in the business world, he cited the now-famous "virtual office" of Chiat/Day Advertising as a model. Instead of offices with locks, Chiat/Day employees simply have lockers. Almost everyone works in a common area, communicating through radio telephones and tapping away on laptops plugged in to the nearest jack. If someone wants to work at home, that's fine, because, Tognazzini said, "Management trusts the employees."
Trust is one of the key characteristics of Tog's techno-democracy of the future. The traditional management/employee hierarchy-symbolized by plush corner offices and cramped work areas-will be replaced by a fluid, much more egalitarian organization. Since more people will have direct and equal access to IT, management layers will become unnecessary, and businesses will become increasingly decentralized and much more efficient.
Access to technology can also help our deteriorating schools, Tognazzini insisted. Perhaps understandably for someone in the computer business, he asserted, "The problem with our schools isn't a money problem; it's a technology problem." He explained that children do not have enough contact with the kind of computers and software actually used in the workplace today, so they are at a liability when trying to find jobs as adults.
How do we develop the right technology that can help our businesses and schools? Tognazzini had a simple answer: "cooperate." He stressed that for too long IT has been dominated by large businesses with competitive, even combative attitudes toward one another. In a remark that brought an appreciative chuckle from the mostly male audience, he said, "If our industry had a slogan, it would be 'Built by boys for boys.'"
Instead of counter-productive competition, we need to think in seamless terms, wherein products are created and work together in an organic unity. After his address, Tognazzini said that today's independently developed and marketed application is a "brain-damaged idea." And in case anyone missed his point, he added, "Giant applications are a way for giant companies to maintain control."
The audience readily embraced his remarks. A systems administrator called the speech "a ray of hope for us guys in the trenches" who are working to create truly open environments. This approval was echoed by a marketing manager from California, who said, "He's right. We can't do it company by company. Everyone needs to sit down together."
Tog's visionary thinking and evangelical fervor not only galvanized the crowd; they reminded everyone why this industry is such an exciting place to work, and to dream as well.