HP Innovation Issue 17: Spring 2021 | Page 84

Thirty-two years ago futurist John Armour captured the predictions of HP engineers in a series of sketches for the company ’ s Measure magazine . Imagination is a critical component of innovation , and in 1989 , the inventors in HP ’ s labs were envisioning individual workstations with attached arms ; powerful servers that shared graphics in real time ; wearable computer necklaces ; and employees attending meetings as a hologram . Many of their 1989 prognostications about the future of work and technology are the reality of work and life in 2021 , even if not exactly in the way they predicted . We do have portable , voice-activated computers , but they are our phones or smart watches . We Zoom into meetings instead of sending our holographic images ( for now ), while VR headsets have become the norm to transport people-as-avatars to new and alternate realities . Powerful PCs and laptops with built-in capabilities have long made global collaboration possible . All proving that the creativity cultivated at HP becomes the innovations of the future . What will HP ’ s labs dream up for the next 30 years ?
Remember When

1989

Thirty-two years ago futurist John Armour captured the predictions of HP engineers in a series of sketches for the company ’ s Measure magazine . Imagination is a critical component of innovation , and in 1989 , the inventors in HP ’ s labs were envisioning individual workstations with attached arms ; powerful servers that shared graphics in real time ; wearable computer necklaces ; and employees attending meetings as a hologram . Many of their 1989 prognostications about the future of work and technology are the reality of work and life in 2021 , even if not exactly in the way they predicted . We do have portable , voice-activated computers , but they are our phones or smart watches . We Zoom into meetings instead of sending our holographic images ( for now ), while VR headsets have become the norm to transport people-as-avatars to new and alternate realities . Powerful PCs and laptops with built-in capabilities have long made global collaboration possible . All proving that the creativity cultivated at HP becomes the innovations of the future . What will HP ’ s labs dream up for the next 30 years ?
— Andrea Bell-Matthews
ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN ARMOUR FOR HP
HP / INNOVATION / SPRING 2021 82