I'm envious.

Not that you'd think I should be. Because I write and talk on the radio about new technology, I often get to see and use the latest and greatest devices before most people even know they exist. But I'm still not on the leading edge.

You'd recognize that if you saw Microsoft's Center for Information Work, a high-tech demo center on the company's corporate campus that shows upcoming technologies and how they combine with current technologies to produce what we'd call the office of the future.

I haven't even visited the place, but I'm salivating over what I've seen in pictures and videos: wide-screen monitors that wrap around the user, mobile devices that are powerful enough to allow audio and video communications with a command center, tablet PCs with the ability to drag documents and applications between the tablet and the wide-screen monitor.

Please give me a moment to wipe the drool from my chin.

Don't get me wrong. I love my current equipment -- such as my Pocket PC. It keeps me from getting lost in space whenever I need to look up an appointment or remember the dozens of tasks I need to do every day. It even provides a great word processor when I use it with a portable keyboard, allowing me to do what I did last week -- write my entire column on the T between my home and Downtown. I didn't even bother the person seated next to me, because I wasn't elbowing him with a huge laptop.

But let's face it. Cool new technologies will almost always be better than existing technology. Microsoft's Center for Information Work is the perfect way to see that. The company would love to woo you out to Redmond, Wash., to visit the center; but even if you simply see the videos, you'll also be envious.

The one I saw showed an executive starting his workday in his car and seamlessly continuing it as he got to the office. He simply popped in a smart memory card below his monitor. Hey, that's like my USB flash drive. I can do that!

But his monitor was ultrawide -- the kind you see in 50-inch HDTV sets. And it wrapped around him, giving him a wide view -- perhaps around 120 degrees. And it isn't just a monitor; it's an environment. His communications with his remote associates was by video, not by antiquated e-mail or text-based instant messenger. No typing required. Again, I associate that with what I can do today -- videoconferencing by WebEx or Windows NetMeeting.

I even get to use Tablet PCs once in a while to keep me from having to type my articles and other documents. With a Tablet PC, all I need to do is write with a penlike stylus.

It's not the individual applications that are so enticing about the Center for Information Work, although those certainly aren't relics from past generations. It's the vision that it creates -- the sense that we'll be able to take all these things we have today and put them together in a seamless work center that is less stressful, more productive and probably even adds a bit of fun to the daily routine.

The Center for Information Work even lets us get a glimpse of short-term secrets. After all, Tablet PC capability is expected to be shipped with every copy of the upcoming Windows Vista operating system -- although you will need hardware that can take advantage of it.

For now, let's take a collective sigh. The Center for Information Work is not in our offices. For now, we can only dream.