In another three years, it will be common for people to make money. There’s a market for people who can sell information [subscriptions, access] at $35 to $50 a year.
Predictor: Rickard, Jack
Prediction, in context:In a 1990 article for Byte, Lamont Wood and Dana Blankenhorn cover the rise of computer bulletin boards, quoting Jack Rickard, editor of Boardwatch. They write: ”Ten years ago, it was a hobby – the modem version of ham radio. As soon as technically savvy computer hobbyists managed to acquire dual floppy disk drives, they were likely to put their machines online, making them bulletin board systems (BBSes). They would appoint themselves the sysops (system operators) and invite their friends to dial in with 300-bps modems and exchange files and messages … [Sysops can make a living charging fees to BBS members.] Jack Rickard runs Boardwatch, a newsletter about BBSes … ‘Most of the [bulletin board] systems I know are trying to break out of the hobby mode and become paying propositions,’ he says. He agrees that the bulletin-board movement is finally becoming a business, reminiscent of newsletter publishing: ‘In another three years, it will be common for people to make money. There’s a market for people who can sell information at $35 to $50 a year.'”
Biography:Jack Rickard, the editor/publisher of Boardwatch Magazine, the magazine of the 1990s home-grown BBS industry, was also co-founder of the Online Networking Exposition and BBS Convention (ONE BBSCON). (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1990
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Byte
Title, headline, chapter name: State of the BBS Nation: Behold the Lowly Bulletin Board, Now Encompassing the Globe
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 298
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty