Who Should Read This Book

This book should be important to technology and business strategists. It tells the technology strategists how the IT world and the end- user expectation will likely undergo a major revolution within the next ten years . Those who miss this wave likely will feel that they missed a major opportunity and were left selling or supporting anachronistic approaches. Me-centric computing is about a fundamental shift in the value proposition of ITits value will rise as less time is spent learning to use it, leaving more time to reap the benefits.

Business strategists will need to ask how their companies can participate in this revolution. If they're IT companies, they need to rearchitect products and services around the user, not around the network and server equipment. In fact, the networks and services will be transformed greatly by the changed demands these usage patterns will create. If they're IT purchasers or customers, they need to exploit the opportunity to build up new IT assets that directly address measurable productivity goalssomething that will be made easier with smarter tools.

Besides strategists, this book is also aimed at product designers, product marketers, and R&D leaders who need to get started now building the new wave of products. The book provides a clear set of steps that can help to make these products successful.

Lastly, the book should be irresistible to readers who like to see the big waves coming, far enough in advance to choose whether to ride them or get out of the water. The leading edge of this wave is already visible, but the full impact is barely perceived.

Rick is a world authority on IT and artificial intelligence, and was the CTO for Software at Hewlett-Packard, a company uniquely positioned to participate in all elements of the revolution. Daniel is a well-known author of books about e-business and is chief technologist for e-commerce for Hewlett-Packard in Europe.

The anticipated changes in daily life are exciting, provocative, and readily accessible. The historic significance of discontinuity in human-machine relationships will stimulate the imagination and provoke an active participation in future opportunities. The consequences of the transitions, the nature of the transformations, and the timing of opportunities will stay with readers long after they finish the book.

We expect many new businesses to coalesce around the vision and bring to market whole new categories of products and services in the next few years. In addition to gaining insight into the future, you will learn about the key technologies that are collectively combining to create these disruptions, how they work, and how they work together.