Last night, I attended the Atomic Live Forum "Computing and Technology in 2010" event in Melbourne. Naturally, I blogged all about it with pictures and opinions about the event. But that's not why I'm writing this post. I'm writing this post because partly because Frank Arrigo is upset with the lack of "bang for buck" he's getting from us. But more importantly, I'm writing this post because I have a view of computing in 2010 that I'd like to share.

The day is 2010. US President George Bush has marked the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America's freedom. YouTube is purchased by a moron. Google Mail comes out of beta. Apple launches the 9th generation iPod, along with OS X 10.9, codenamed Household Cat. And Microsoft multi-threads Notepad to utilise at least 2 of Intel Core Octoginta's 80 cores.

In the last 4 years. Did YouTube revolutionize the internet? Yes. Copyrighted videos have never been so easily accessible. Did Gmail revolutionize the email? Yes. Mailing lists have never been so fun. Did blogging revolutionise communication? Yes. Microsoft bashers are louder than ever. Did Microsoft ship an operating system? No.

Everything will improve undoubtedly. Screens get bright and bigger. Mice get more accurate. Speakers get clearer and louder. Laptops get lighter. Wireless gets better coverage. CPUs get faster. The Internet gets bigger.

But software has unlimited potential. What is now Live Messenger, could be my landline, my phone, my email and my personal secretary. What is now iTunes, could be the biggest media provider with every item of audio and video ever produced. What is now Solitare, could be the cards game with virtual hands, realistic cards tearing physics and online multiplayer networks of tomorrow.

I’m no fortune teller, but I am absolutely sure of one thing in 2010. Microsoft will still release security patches. Technology changes, but not that fast. If the last 4 years is any indication, the next 4 years won't be revolutionary.