Conclusion

We've mentioned that much of what constitutes acceptable quality in graphics is subjective. A corollary point is that the law of rising expectations applies in areas like this. For example, people once thought that monochrome monitors were great for text—after all they said, you don't need color to read a printed page. But once color systems fell in price, software designers began to take advantage of their features. Soon, no one wanted monochrome monitors—they're even hard to find now.

One change of this kind that we can reasonably expect in the not too distant future will be in monitor resolution. Once high resolution displays, e.g., 150 dpi, appear and start to fall in price, everyone will think their current 72 dpi versions are ugly and will want to throw them away. This phenomenon of rising expectations has already been demonstrated with color printing. Graphics that seemed great a few years ago now are rejected as unsuitable.

A final point about graphics is the question of when and how 3D will break out of the game arena and into the mainstream. While no one has yet shown compelling use of 3D in regular business software, it is likely to catch on quickly in the fast growing computer-based education market. The ability to create highly detailed illustrations, both real and abstract, will be valuable for instruction and appealing to a generation accustomed to high quality video since childhood (quality in the graphics, not in the content!).