As far as the software business goes, Microsoft has become like death and taxes … Sun Microsystems, by distributing Java freely over the Internet, will create an alternative software world that Microsoft will be unable to dominate.
Predictor: Gosling, James
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for The New York Times, John Markoff talks with James Gosling. Markoff writes: ”James Gosling wants to make the computer software world safe for diversity. In his view, and in the view of many other people in the industry, the software giant Microsoft is close to crowding out all its competition. ‘As far as the software business goes, Microsoft has become like death and taxes,’ said Mr. Gosling, the 40-year-old software wizard who is the mastermind behind the Java language. He contends that Sun Microsystems, by distributing Java freely over the Internet, will create an alternative software world that Microsoft will be unable to dominate.”
Biography:James Gosling was a lead engineer for Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s, just as the networked computing company was ready to make its leap to the Fortune 500. He created Java in the search for a universal programming language for the Internet, and it first struck a chord in 1995. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: September 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Language/Interface/Software
Name of publication: New York Times
Title, headline, chapter name: Staking Claim in Alternative Software on the Internet
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
September 25, 1995, Monday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section D; Page 4; Column 3; Business/Financial Desk http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=d39903aec05831f5c85471490b95239a&_docnum=2&wchp=dGLbVtb-lSlzV&_md5=887e3be1ea9b262a99073ad78644766b
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garber, Adam