•Graphics has been a key enabling technology in the evolution of computing environments:
–graphical user interfaces
–visual computing, e.g., desktop publishing of text and illustrations, scientific visualization, information
visualization
•Hardware revolution drives everything
–every 12-18 months, computer power improves by factor of 2 in price / performance – Moore’s “Law”
•Wrist watches, cell phones, BlackBerry™, Treo™
•3Com Palm™ organizers, Compaq I-Paq™ as a full PC
•Hallmark singing card, LeapFrog™ Pad
–graphics memory and network speeds are on even faster exponentials
•Graphics chips improve dramatically every six to nine months (e.g. nVidia GeForce™ series,
ATI Radeon™ series) due to huge competition between vendors
Environmental (R)evolution