The prediction, in brief:

I would guess that [10 years from now] General Magic will have been taken over by weird people who don’t know what they’ve got.

Predictor: Atkinson, Bill

Prediction, in context:

In a 1994 article for Wired magazine, Steve Levy interviews hypercard inventor Bill Atkinson and Andy Hertzfeld about the Internet appliance they are working on for General Magic. Levy writes:”‘Are you guys going to be here 10 years from now?’ I ask Bill and Andy. ‘Yeah,’ says Bill. Andy looks startled. ‘At General Magic?’ ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ says Bill. ‘I don’t think I’ll be at General Magic,” says Andy, “because I’m better at starting things…. There’ll be new adventures – ‘ concedes Bill, ‘I would guess that General Magic will have been taken over by weird people who don’t know what they’ve got.'”

Biography:

Bill Atkinson was the man behind many of Apple Computer’s biggest innovations in the 1980s and early ’90s. He was honored with a 1994 EFF Pioneer Award for his work as the graphics-toolbox developer for Apple’s Lisa computers and his application HyperCard, the first truly mass-market hypertext product. In the mid-’90s he became chief scientist at General Magic, a company creating software for personal communicators and digital agents. (Pioneer/Originator.)

Date of prediction: April 1, 1994

Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure

Subtopic: General

Name of publication: Wired

Title, headline, chapter name: Bill and Andy’s Excellent Adventure II

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.04/general.magic_pr.html

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney