Autonomic Computing

An interesting manifesto about Autonomic Computing comes from Paul Horn, VP of IBM Research. The concept is that we need to start programming computers to handle complexity in systems automatically, similar to how our heartbeat and breathing are managed automatically.

This is definitely still research territory, but it makes sense. One interesting aspect of this manifesto is that the author calls for an end to proprietary systems, saying that customers deserve better. That seems to be the exact opposite of what Microsoft tends to do in practice… we’ll see if IBM continues to support open systems in practice.

C|NET has a shorter version of the article available.