Once you make a form of communication asynchronous, you can also increase the variety and selection possibilities … The highway will enable capabilities that seem magical when they are described, but represent technology at work to make our lives easier and better … Video on demand will be an important application on the information highway.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “The Road Ahead,” Microsoft CEO Bill Gates writes:”One of the benefits bestowed by the information highway will be more control over your schedules. There will be many others. Once you make a form of communication asynchronous, you can also increase the variety and selection possibilities. Even viewers who rarely record television programs routinely rent movies. There are thousands of choices available at local video – rental stores for just a few dollars each so the home viewer can spend any evening with Elvis, the Beatles – or Greta Garbo É The highway will enable capabilities that seem magical when they are described, but represent technology at work to make our lives easier and better. Because consumers already understand the value of movies and are used to paying to watch them, video on demand will be an important application on the information highway. It won’t be the first, however. We already know the PCs will be connected long before television sets and that the quality of movies shown on early systems will not be very high. The systems will be able to offer other applications such as games, electronic mail, and home banking. When high-quality video can be transmitted, there won’t be any intermediary VCR; you’ll simply request what you want from a long list of available programs. Limited video-on-demand systems are already installed in some higher-priced hotel rooms, replacing or complementing premium movie channels. Hotel rooms, airports, and even airplanes are great laboratories for all the new highway services that will come later into homes. They offer a controlled environment and an upscale audience for experimentation.”
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: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: TV/Films/Video
Name of publication: The Road Ahead (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 4: Applications and Appliances
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 66, 67
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney