When the information highway is available, people won’t be limited to audio and still images, because the highway will also transmit high-quality video. The meetings they schedule will more and more often be conducted electronically, using shared-screen videoconferencing. Each electronic participant, wherever he or she is, will look at a different physical screen: a video white board, a television set, or a PC, but each screen will show much of the same image. Part of the screen might show someone’s face, while another part might display a document. If anyone modifies the document, the change will appear almost immediately on all the screens. Geographically distant collaborators will be able to work together in rich ways.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “The Road Ahead,” Microsoft CEO Bill Gates writes: ”When the information highway is available, people won’t be limited to audio and still images, because the highway will also transmit high-quality video. The meetings they schedule will more and more often be conducted electronically, using shared-screen videoconferencing. Each electronic participant, wherever he or she is, will look at a different physical screen: a video white board, a television set, or a PC, but each screen will show much of the same image. Part of the screen might show someone’s face, while another part might display a document. If anyone modifies the document, the change will appear almost immediately on all the screens. Geographically distant collaborators will be able to work together in rich ways. This is synchronous or real-time sharing, which means that computer screens will keep up with the people sharing them.”
Biography:Bill Gates, the most influential technology entrepreneur of the late 20th century, was the primary author of the prediction-packed 1995 book “The Road Ahead” and is the founder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Video Conferencing
Name of publication: The Road Ahead (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 7: Implications for Business
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 149
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne