Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
millions of computers to support some essential online service.
Very large scale multicore systems. Computer architectures have already
switched to providing multiple processors per chip; this trend will continue,
potentially yielding systems with hundreds or possibly even thousands of
processors per machine.
Ubiquitous portable computing devices, including smartphones, tablets,
and ebook readers. Computers are likely to become untethered from the
keyboard and the screen, responding to voice, gestures, and perhaps even
brain waves.
Very heterogeneous systems, as every device becomes programmable, from
supercomputers to refrigerators down to individual light switches.
Very large scale storage: everything that can be stored, will be, and needs
to be stored reliably so that it can be retrieved at any point, even decades
later.
Managing all this is the job of the operating system.
