Feast Your Eyes on a Glimpse into the Future from Microsoft

Every once in a while Microsoft reveals just how far into the future it’s looking in terms of the evolution of technology.

Case in point: the new Productivity Future Vision (2011) video that the software giant just shared with the world.

Users should not take the video for an accurate forecast, because that’s not really its role.

“We create these videos to help tell the story we see unfolding in technology, and how it will impact our lives in the future,” revealed Kurt DelBene, president, Microsoft Office Division.

In this particular case, the content embedded at the bottom of this article is set up to show how the Redmond company imagines the evolution of productivity.

“The video shows our vision for a future where technology extends and highlights our productive capabilities; it helps us manage our time better, focus our attention on the most important things, and foster meaningful connections with the people we care about,” DelBene notes.

“All of the ideas in the video are based on real technology. Some of the capabilities, such as speech recognition, real time collaboration and data visualization already exist today. Others are not yet available in specific products, but represent active research and development happening at Microsoft and other companies.”

It’s not the first time that Microsoft has explored future scenarios in which technology becomes intelligent enough to move beyond its role as a simple tool.

Essentially, what the software giant is saying is that technology will play an increasingly critical role in our lives, from the very basic and mundane everyday tasks to complex actions performed at work.

“You’ll see how people can stay productive using a variety of devices from slates and PCs to mobile devices where they can access their information regardless of their location or the device they are using,” DelBene added.

“Collaborating on projects with remote colleagues gets easier. Information can be interacted with and manipulated using touch and voice commands to create beautiful and useful documents. Better decisions can be made faster with information that is contextually relevant to where you are and what you are doing.”