By the time the new fiber-and-coaxial networks are built, the thinking goes, many people will be used to getting data from Mosaic. As a result, they’ll demand that the software also control what comes into the home via the cable systems.
Predictor: Andreessen, Marc
Prediction, in context:The following is an excerpt from a 1994 article by Knight-Ridder News Service reporter David Bank that was carried in The Dayton Daily News and The Bergen Record. In it, Bank quotes Marc Andreesen: ”The way Andreessen and Clark see it, it will take three to five years before the telephone and cable companies complete their new broadband networks of fiber-optic and coaxial cables. The telephone and cable companies are developing their own computer systems to deliver programming, such as 500 channels of television, video on demand and interactive games. During that time, the Internet, which already connects 20 million users, will continue to grow at an estimated 10 percent each month. By the time the new fiber-and-coaxial networks are built, the thinking goes, many people will be used to getting data from Mosaic. As a result, they’ll demand that the software also control what comes into the home via the cable systems. ‘It will be your TV guide,’ Andreessen said. ‘This is the opportunity for us to come in below the radar screen. By the time the switched broadband network comes into being, we will already be there.'”
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: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Language/Interface/Software
Name of publication: Dayton Daily News
Title, headline, chapter name: Computer Whiz, 22, May Change Internet
Quote Type: Paraphrase
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=6c2695b0687bc4d1c7c5b1dfc900624f&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVlz-lSlzV&_md5=a7e9b5cce9c06c6ec09cd1bf393b78d4
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Allen, Patrick J.