Many times, the best way to see the future of your profession is to look to other professions.  Microsoft Office Labs, with their “Envisioning” series of videos, present a stunning take on the future of office, education and other environments.   Walls that flow video seamlessly across their surfaces, multi-touch interaction, and a fluidity of data that allows instant personalization across a variety of environments and futuristic devices are just some of the themes in the videos.

How could these really be accomplished in terms of lighting technology?  With advancements in OLED display panels and products such as E-Ink, wall surfaces that contain highly visible data without producing excessive brightness are just around the corner.  In fact, some of these developments are already functioning prototypes in labs, but not ready for commercialization just yet.

Even more stunning: some of these videos are already several years old.  Microsoft is definitely looking far into the future.

Still fighting just to get dimming in your projects?