Autonomic personal computing is personal computing on autonomic computing platforms. Its goals combine those of personal computing with those of autonomic computing. The challenge of personal autonomic computing is to simplify and enhance the end-user experience, delighting the user by anticipating his or her needs in the face of a complex, dynamic, and uncertain environment. In this paper we identify the key technologies that enable autonomic behavior as distinguished from fault-tolerant behavior. We give some examples of current autonomic behavior and some general considerations for an architecture that supports autonomic personal computing. We identify its challenges to standards and technology developers and conclude with some guidance for future work.Autonomic personal computing is defined here as personal computing on autonomic computing systems. It shares the goals of personal computingresponsiveness, ease of use, and flexibility-with those of autonomic computing-simplicity of use, availability, and security. In most cases these goals are complementary. For example, autonomic computing enhances ease of use because it eliminates or simplifies some user responsibilities. But personal computing implies flexibility of location and of the hardware and software configuration, and this complicates the job of achieving autonomic behavior. It is easier to configure, heal, optimize, and protect a system in an environment that does not change. If we can achieve autonomic behavior while still meeting the unique needs of personal computing, millions of users will benefit worldwide.The intention of this paper, then, is to identify the unique demands and opportunities of autonomic computing with personal devices. Our ground rules are that we seek to achieve autonomic behavior of a personal computing system-personal computers (PCs) and their peers, networks, and servers-not just the PC alone. We also limit our focus to application platforms, not to applications themselves. This distinction is somewhat equivocal and quantitative, however, because yesterday's applications are often tomorrow's platforms.In what follows, we first look deeper into the meaning of the autonomic attributes of personal computing, which are different from fault-tolerant attributes. We then categorize technologies as they relate to achieving autonomic behavior in different variations: within the PC, in PC communities, and in more general systems that include servers. We give some examples of the state of the art and identify missing or incomplete capabilities. We describe some general considerations for an architecture that supports autonomic personal computing, identify some issues, and suggest a direction for future research and development.
