Ten years from now I would like to think … [there will be] multi-megabit data access just about everywhere, including wireless; the price of multiprocessors should have plummeted by a lot … You’re going to get megabits of data while you’re eating, and you are not even going to think twice about it. I don’t think we even have the slightest idea of what that’s going to mean.
Predictor: Andreessen, Marc
Prediction, in context:The following was taken from a transcript of a 1995 video interview of Marc Andreessen, conducted for the Smithsonian Institution by David K. Allison, curator of the division of information technology and society at the National Museum of American History: ”Allison- Marc, as you stop and dream and look toward the future, what does the world look like online in this integrated future for you in ten years?” ”Andreessen- Optimistically in ten years? Let’s see. Ten years out is almost too far at this point. Just too far. Ten years from now I would like to think … there are a number of practical things that I would like to think would be true, such as multi-megabit data access just about everywhere, including wireless; the price of multiprocessors should have plummeted by a lot, they should be running multiple parallel processors at that point or something like that – given that all of these things are going to happen and the technology is going to continue to go forward. I don’t know of anything particular relevant to say about it other than the change is going to be so huge that I don’t feel comfortable speculating about any of the results because it’s just going to be a fact of life. It’s just going to be there. You’re going to get megabits of data while you’re eating, and you are not even going to think twice about it. I don’t think we even have the slightest idea of what that’s going to mean.”
Biography:Marc Andreessen worked with Eric Bina at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in 1992, to develop a browser that would be usable on any computer, easy to use and graphically rich. In 1993, their browser, Mosaic, completely changed the face of the Internet Ð it allowed HTML “image” tags which make it so text and art can appear on the same page; it allowed easy text scrolling; and it introduced hyperlinks, allowing users to simply click on an area of the screen to go to another document on the Internet. In1994, Mosaic was developed and marketed; the product eventually was named Netscape. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: June 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Bandwidth
Name of publication: Smithsonian Institution Oral and Video Histories
Title, headline, chapter name: Marc Andreessen
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/csr/comphist/ma1.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Allen, Patrick J.