McNelly SoftWorks, LLC

Posted: August 1, 2016

Today, McNelly SoftWorks launched a new web site called A World Without Apps. Many years ago, too many to count, I was fascinated with the Apple Newton and something that John Scully called the Knowledge Navigator. Essentially the idea was that you would have a device you could interact with and would act as your personal digital assistant. I bought a used Newton and, while I loved it, it wasn’t enough for me. Later, I played with a pre-release version of the Palm Pilot and later purchased one of the very first Compaq iPaq devices (remember them?). I really thought these devices would change my life, and they did, to a certain degree, but no matter what device I picked up, I always wanted more. Eventually I came to the conclusion that all of my solution envy would end when voice interaction with an intelligent system was a viable option.

Since then, voice recognition and playback became core features on Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows devices. Google Now, Siri and Cortana came around and started answering your questions. Next, Google Now and later iOS started actually inferring things about your life, automatically letting me know where my car is parked or how long I will need to get to my next appointment (without me asking). The move to a world without apps (WWA) was happening and I had to write about it as I watched it unfold.

Check out the site when you get a chance; my plan it to post there whenever I see something interesting or related to WWA. Enjoy!