Ubiquitous computing: Anytime, anyplace, anywhere?

Abstract

Computers are ubiquitous, in terms that they are everywhere, but does this mean the same as ubiquitous computing? Views are divided. The convergent device (one-does-all) view posits the computer as a tool through which anything, and indeed everything, can be done (Licklider & Taylor, 1968). The divergent device (many-do-all) view, by contrast, offers a world where microprocessors are embedded in everything and communicating with one another (Weiser, 1991). This debate is implicitly present in this issue, with examples of the convergent device in Crook & Barrowcliff's paper and in Gay et al's paper, and examples of the divergent devices in Thomas & Gellersen's paper and Baber's paper. I suspect both streams of technology are likely to co-exist.