Abstract: Today, the digital life of people in developed markets is dominated by PCs and smartphones. Yet, as successful as PCs and smartphones are, the dominant era of PCs and smartphones is about to come to an end. Device shipment trends indicate that the number of web-enabled devices other than PCs and smartphones will grow rapidly. In the near future, people will commonly use various types of internet-connected devices in their daily lives. Unlike today, no single device will dominate the user’s digital life. The transition to a world of multiple device ownership is still rife with problems. Since devices are mostly standalone and only stay in sync in limited ways, the users will have to spend a lot of time managing them. These device management chores become much more tedious as the number of devices in a person’s life increases. In this paper we look at the ongoing paradigm shift towards multiple device ownership and its implications for software architecture. In this keynote, we argue that the transition to multiple device ownership will eventually lead us to liquid software – an approach that will allow data and applications to seamlessly move between multiple devices and screens. The new era will imply significant changes in the development, deployment and use of software, opening up new opportunities in software engineering research as well.

 

In the light of the evolution towards simpler user experience, multiple device ownership should be as casual, fluid and hassle-free as possible. By casual computing, we refer to a model of computation that is constantly available, capable of delivering meaningful value even in a few moments, without requiring active attention from the user’s part.  Casual computing is as much a mindset as a specific set of technologies – the idea is to make technologies themselves so natural, effortless and calm that they will effectively disappear. A central aspect of a true casual computing experience is the ability to move fluidly from one device to another. By liquid software, we refer to an approach in which applications and data can flow from one device or screen to another seamlessly, allowing the users to roam freely from one device to another, no longer worrying about device management, not having their favorite applications or data, or having to remember complex steps. In a true liquid software environment, device management chores such as backups, application installation, application upgrades, restarting the recently used applications, account migration, copying settings across devices, or other similar activities that burden the daily lives of users today should be things of the past.

 

 

Speaker bio: Tommi Mikkonen works as a professor of software engineering at Tampere University of Technology, Finland. During his career, he has been pioneering mobile device programming as well as web applications as academic research topics. Overall, he has published over 200 articles of different types, and participated in numerous initiatives regarding collaboration of universities and industry.