What is the difference between patvasive and ubiquitous computing?
I just found out that ubiquitous computing and pervasive
computing aren't the same thing. "What?!?" you're saying. "I'm
shocked." Yes, brace yourselves. This time it appears to be the
scientists, not the marketers, who adopted everyday terms to
describe their once-futuristic technology, making things very
confusing now that other folks are using those ordinary words --
sometimes interchangeably -- without their particular nuances in
mind.
Now, I'm not going to blame anybody here -- they're a lot
smarter than I am, and they started their research a long time ago
-- but I'm going to suggest that things have come far enough that
there are easier ways to explain what is meant by these terms.
First, let's look at what they mean.
Ubiquitous means everywhere. Pervasive means "diffused
throughout every part of." In computing terms, those seem like
somewhat similar concepts. Ubiquitous computing would be
everywhere, and pervasive computing would be in all parts of your
life.
That might mean the difference between seeing kiosks on every
street corner and finding that you could -- or need to -- use your
Palm handheld to do absolutely every information-based task.
And, in fact, that's where the difference between these two
types of computing lies. Pervasive computing involves devices like
handhelds -- small, easy-to-use devices -- through which we'll be
able to get information on anything and everything. That's the sort
of thing that Web-enabled cell phones promise. Ubiquitous
computing, though, eschews our having to use computers at all.
Instead, it's computing in the background, with technology embedded
in the things we already use. That might be a car navigation system
that, by accessing satellite pictures, alerts us to a traffic jam
ahead, or an oven that shuts off when our food is cooked.
Where IBM is a leader in the pervasive computing universe -- it
has a whole division, aptly called the Pervasive Computing
division, devoted to it -- Xerox started the ubiquitous thing back
in 1988.
Ubiquitous computing "helped kick off the recent boom in mobile
computing research," notes its inventor, Mark Weiser, who came out
with the concept at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, "although it
is not the same thing as mobile computing, nor a superset nor a
subset." That means that people who use ubiquitous computing to
mean computing anytime, anyplace -- to describe hordes on a street
corner checking their stock prices until the "walk" light comes on
or efforts to dole out laptops to all students on a college campus
-- aren't using the rightterm.
We don't really need to use either one. I'd be happy to call
pervasive computing mobile computing, and to call ubiquitous
computing embedded or invisible or transparent computing -- or even
just built-in functions.
Besides, until either ubiquitous or pervasive computing is
anywhere and everywhere, those alternatives seem more accurate.
Blake
Fran
Vivi
