Liquid Software Manifesto: The Era of Multiple Device Ownership and Its Implications for Software Architecture

Today, the digital life of people in developed markets is dominated by PCs and smart phones. Yet, as successful as PCs and smart phones are, the dominant era of PCs and smart phones is about to come to an end. Device shipment trends indicate that the number of web-enabled devices other than PCs and smart phones will grow rapidly. In the near future, people will commonly use various types of internet-connected devices in their daily lives. Unlike today, no single device will dominate the user´s digital life. The transition to a world of multiple device ownership is still rife with problems. Since devices are mostly standalone and only stay in sync in limited ways, the users will have to spend a lot of time managing them. These device management chores become much more tedious as the number of devices in a person´s life increases. In this paper we look at the ongoing paradigm shift towards multiple device ownership and its implications for software architecture. We argue that the transition to multiple device ownership will eventually lead us to liquid software - an approach that will allow data and applications to seamlessly move between multiple devices and screens. The new era will imply significant changes in the development, deployment and use of software, opening up new opportunities in software engineering research as well.