The Ten Biggest Problems in Computing

The August 23, 2005 issue of PC Magazine had a cover story on the PC's Top Ten Problems.  The following is taken from that story.

  1. It's too easy to get hacked, infected and spammed.
    Current anti spyware program fixes known problems.  Research is being done to detect unknown problems.  There MAY, in the future, be a charge for sending email.
     
  2. Software is to buggy and unreliable.
    Carnegie Mellon University is studying how programmers find and fix bugs and intend to create a debugging system.  IBM Research is scanning programs for "antipatterns" which cause bugs.  They intend to build software tools that will detect them in order to help programmers eliminate them.
     
  3. Identity theft is out of control.
    7 million people are victims of identity theft per year according to Gartner Research.  Stronger user authentification is being worked on, including face and voice recognition.
     
  4. It's impossible to find stuff.
    Natural language searching is on the way.  We'll be able to search audio and video files.
     
  5. My downloads won't fit on my hard drive.
    Hitachi has demonstrated vertical data recording.  They hope to produce a one terabyte 3.5 inch hard drive in a year or two.  InPhase Technologies has announced a CD sized 300GB holographic storage device for 2006, they are shooting for 1.6 TB in 2009.  ZettaCore has a prototype customized molecules to store data.
     
  6. Notebook battery life is too short.
    Portable fuel cells should be available next year.  Toshiba has a battery that will go from 0 to 80% charged in 60 seconds.  The goal is all day computing on one charge.
     
  7. Surfing the web is too slow.
    The internet is mostly 10 GB/Sec.  Researchers are working on 20, 40 and even 100.
     
  8. My PC isn't fast enough.
    This is only a problem for 3D games.  Intel and AMD will soon have chips based on 65 nanometer (smaller equals faster) technology which will run at 2.5 GH.  Work is being done on 22 and 13 nm.
     
  9. Wireless web connections are spotty and unreliable.
    Expect a "wireless cloud" extending from coast to coast by 2012.
     
  10. I'm drowning in cables.
    Wireless standards to connect peripherals are in the works, devices will connect faster and more efficiently.