So sudden and dramatic has been Mosaic’s success in attracting commercial software developers that the program may play a decisive role in determining the shape of the national “information infrastructure” now being debated by Government officials and telecommunications and computer executives … [Mitchell Kapor] sees it as a tool in his crusade to cajole the telephone, cable television and computer industries to establish an open and accessible national data highway rather than a private toll road that many of the private companies seem to prefer. “For me Mosaic was a turning point,” Mr. Kapor said. “It’s like -C-Span for everyone.”
Predictor: Kapor, Mitchell
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for the New York Times, technology columnist John Markoff reports on the revolutionary development of Mosaic, the first World Wide Web browsing program. Markoff writes: ”So sudden and dramatic has been Mosaic’s success in attracting commercial software developers that the program may play a decisive role in determining the shape of the national “information infrastructure” now being debated by Government officials and telecommunications and computer executives. One evangelist for Mosaic is Mitchell D. Kapor, founder of the Lotus Development Corporation, the company whose Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet helped ignite the personal computer revolution in the early 1980s. Mr. Kapor, who heads the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public-interest group on computer issues, visited a cable television industry show last week in Anaheim, Calif., and demonstrated Mosaic. He sees it as a tool in his crusade to cajole the telephone, cable television and computer industries to establish an open and accessible national data highway rather than a private toll road that many of the private companies seem to prefer. ‘For me Mosaic was a turning point,’ Mr. Kapor said. ‘It’s like -C-Span for everyone.'”
Biography:Mitchell Kapor founded the Lotus Development Corporation and also founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation with WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) members John Perry Barlow and John Gilmore in 1990 in direct response to a threat to free speech. He was an outspoken supporter of open access to the Internet, and was asked to speak in many venues about the issue, including Congressional hearings. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Open Access
Name of publication: New York Times
Title, headline, chapter name: A Free and Simple Computer Link
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Section D; Page 1; Column 3: Financial Desk
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney