Microsoft research officer discusses future of computing

Use of technology in the classroom will only become more integral and transformative to education, Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie said on Monday to a crowd of about 70 undergraduate and graduate students in Dodds Auditorium.

Mundie discussed how several recently developed technologies could be applied in educational contexts and, more generally, in improving the free flow of information.

Someday walls and desks “will essentially have computers built into them,” Mundie said, explaining that touch screens could “take social computing processes and use them directly in the educational process” by connecting the user to content created by his or her classmates.

Mundie presented a sheet of a flexible material called “e-ink” that was only slightly thicker and wider than a sheet of paper. The “e-ink” sheet, which is powered by a battery attached to its back, allows the user to use a touch screen to retrieve data and diagrams.

“I might see that I have a classmate that has also been looking at this [diagram], and he has some insight about it,” Mundie said, demonstrating the user’s ability to access notes taken by the other student by clicking one of the links on the screen.

In the future, some educational institutions may feature “common trading place[s]” in dorms or libraries where students can bring their tablet computers, cell phones or other devices to interact with one another, Mundie added.

He explained that a student can use surface computers to store information from separate devices in a common folder so that other students could access it more easily.

A primary goal for these efforts, however, should be “to create a more natural interaction between man and machine” to try “to extend the benefits of these technologies to a much greater part of the world’s population,” he said.

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Mundie noted, though, that an institution today would need “quite a big disposable income” to purchase this kind of technology.

He said that he has spoken to President Tilghman about how to meet the technological needs of University students and faculty. Tilghman confirmed in an e-mail that the University and Microsoft “will continue to talk about whether the ideas that are being developed in the high tech industry are adaptable to the university setting.”

She noted, however, that there have been “no specific plans [for the University] to work together with Microsoft.

”In addition to presenting technologies applicable to education, Mundie shared his views on Microsoft’s future. Microsoft’s overall goals, Mundie said, are to invent new products, further develop its existing presence in markets and break into new markets.

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“Many other companies just focus on extending business they already have,” Mundie explained. “When possible, we like to invent new things and disrupt markets ourselves.”

One audience member expressed delight with Mundie’s presentation.

“It was certainly an impressive display of new technology and some new ideas,” engineering school dean Peter Bogucki said of the Mundie’s various product demonstrations. “It’s great to see that’s what’s on the drawing board.”

Mundie, who has worked at the computing giant since 1992, took over research and planning operations after Bill Gates’ semi-retirement to “essentially ... focus on the long term,” he explained.

During his time with the company, Mundie helped to develop software for the Handheld PC, Pocket PC and Auto PC, as well as non-PC platforms like the Windows CE operating system and early console-gaming products. He also helped launch Microsoft’s digital TV services by acquiring WebTV Networks Inc., and running it as a subsidiary.

Mundie formerly served as Microsoft’s chief technical officer for advanced strategies and policy, where he worked with Gates to develop the company’s approach to issues related to policy, technology and business. In 2000, President Bill Clinton appointed Mundie to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, which advises the president’s staff on matters related to U.S. telecommunications infrastructure.

In 2002, Mundie was appointed to the Council on Foreign Relations, and later that year, the Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, which helps devise strategies for addressing security challenges in today’s world.