Technology Trends Beyond Word Processing

The 1980s have seen the advent of the first commercial applications of artificial intelligence research. The two prime examples are expert systems and natural language processors. These developments have already begun to affect the design of office computers. Future office workstations will have some 'understanding' of office procedures and of the goals of office workers and their organisation. Also, they will have natural language interfaces. This will enable office workers to interact with the workstation in their native language rather than in some artificial language. Moreover, the workstation will act as a linguistic consultant in facilitating the preparation, manipulation and translation of full text documents.