There is this nonexistent business called “information highway.” It’s got zero dollars in revenue and a lot of uncertainty of when it will emerge. I happen to be someone who believes very much in this business … The mania is in full force, and if you want to be way out in front on this thing you have to move full-speed.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for The Boston Globe, Ronald Rosenberg interviews the chairman and co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, over dinner in Boston, just before the fall 1993 Boston Computer Society meeting. An excerpt follows: ”Q. The decision by Bell-Atlantic to merge with Tele-Communications Inc. and create a huge telephone and cable company raises questions about where computers, particularly software, fits in. What’s your view of the deal that is shaking up the tele-communications industry?” ”A. There is this nonexistent business called ‘information highway.’ It’s got zero dollars in revenue and a lot of uncertainty of when it will emerge. I happen to be someone who believes very much in this business. I don’t pretend to provide scientific proof that it will be a large business. The skeptics bring up good reasons why they think it is not going to be as big or as early an opportunity as I happen to believe it is. Microsoft has always focused on software products and software standards. For this opportunity we are building software and are spending close to $100 million a year. We’ve been spending quite a bit of time with both phone companies and cable companies … They are moving ahead with trials and have interesting things about it … The mania is in full force, and if you want to be way out in front on this thing you have to move full-speed.”
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: October 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Boston Globe
Title, headline, chapter name: Bill Gates, Evangelist: Q & A
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=0EE14D11CA95C3B7&p_docnum=1&p_nbid=J61T52MMMTA1MzQ1NjE0MC42ODYwNTU6MTo2OjE1Mi4zMw
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty