Microsoft published some research about optical computing in Nature. Before you get excited, remember this is the same company that promised AI would revolutionize Bing, HoloLens would change everything, and Windows Phone was the future. Let's see if they can actually build something that works this time.
What the Hell is Optical Computing?
Instead of using electricity to flip bits, you use light. That's it. It's been a research topic since the 1980s, but nobody's managed to make it practical for real computing. The theory is great:
- Everything happens in parallel: Light can carry multiple signals at once through different colors and orientations
- Uses less power: Moving photons around takes less energy than moving electrons
- Should be faster: Light moves at... well, the speed of light
- Runs cooler: No heat from electrical resistance
Sounds amazing, right? The problem is building computers that actually use these advantages without falling apart or costing a billion dollars.
What Microsoft Actually Built
According to their Nature paper, Microsoft built an analog optical system that can solve optimization problems faster than digital computers. The key word here is "optimization problems" - not general computing, not running Windows, not even playing Crysis.
Their system is good at:
- Finding optimal solutions to specific math problems
- Pattern matching when you feed it the right data
- Parallel processing for problems that can be split up nicely
What it's not good at: Everything else your computer does. This isn't replacing your laptop anytime soon.
The Energy Efficiency Hype
Microsoft claims their optical system uses 100x less energy for specific tasks. That's great, but those "specific tasks" are probably things like "solve this one optimization problem we designed the system for."
Data centers do consume about 1% of global electricity, so energy efficiency matters. But Google's been optimizing data center power for decades, AWS has renewable energy programs, and NVIDIA's already making more efficient AI chips. Microsoft's late to this party too.
Real-World Applications (Maybe)
If this actually works outside a research lab:
AI training
Could make training ChatGPT or Claude cheaper. But only if the optical system can handle the specific math operations needed for neural networks.
Financial modeling
Wall Street loves anything that makes high-frequency trading faster. But they also love things that actually work in production environments.
Scientific simulation
Climate models and drug discovery need massive computation. But they also need flexibility and reliability, not just speed on one specific problem type.
Cryptography
Breaking encryption faster sounds scary until you realize this might also make creating stronger encryption easier.
The Competition Isn't Sleeping
While Microsoft's playing with laser beams, everyone else is working on their own "next generation" computing:
Quantum computing
IBM, Google, and Amazon are dumping billions into quantum systems. They're also struggling to make anything useful outside specialized problems.
Neuromorphic chips
Intel's trying to build brain-like processors. Still waiting to see if they work better than the actual brains they're copying.
Better silicon
NVIDIA keeps making faster GPUs, AMD keeps catching up, and everyone's still making traditional chips work better through clever engineering.
Microsoft's betting that optical computing will leapfrog all of this. Bold strategy for a company that couldn't make Windows Phone competitive against the iPhone.
Reality Check: What Could Go Wrong?
Manufacturing hell
Building optical computers at scale requires completely new factories and processes. Ask anyone who's tried to manufacture advanced semiconductors - it's expensive as fuck and takes years to get right.
Software nightmare
All existing software assumes digital computers. Rewriting everything for optical computing would make the transition from 16-bit to 32-bit look trivial.
Integration clusterfuck
Real computers need to do more than solve optimization problems. Connecting optical processors to memory, storage, networking, and user interfaces is non-trivial.
Cost reality
The first optical computers will cost more than a house. Great for Microsoft Research demos, less great for actual adoption.
Microsoft's Timeline (Take With Salt)
They claim practical applications in 3-5 years. Remember:
- Microsoft said Windows Vista would revolutionize computing (it didn't)
- They promised Kinect would change gaming forever (it didn't)
- They claimed mixed reality was the future (still waiting)
Will This Actually Matter?
Maybe. If Microsoft can actually build optical computers that:
- Work reliably outside research labs
- Solve problems people actually have
- Cost less than a small country's GDP
- Integrate with existing technology
That's a lot of "ifs" for a company with Microsoft's track record of overpromising and underdelivering on breakthrough technologies. But hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day.