When it comes to the future of desktops, Mundie said: “”I believe the successor to the desktop is the room, that instead of thinking that the computer is just something on the desk that you go and sit in front of, [in the] future basically the whole room is the computer and you go in it.”

Mundie pointed to Microsoft’s popular Kinect Xbox 360 accessory as a way to enable a room-based computing environment. The Kinect has 3D cameras to track your body’s motion, which makes it uniquely suited for more interactive computing environments. Eventually, it could be used to deliver personalized health care and education to remote areas, he said.