We believe the world is moving from a desktop point of view to a network-centric point of view, and when you have a network-centric point of view, you don’t need a device as complicated as the PC … You can get a terminal for as much as $400-$500 … PC is a ridiculous device; the idea is so complicated and expensive. What the world really wants is to plug into a wall to get electronic power and plug in to get data.
Predictor: Ellison, Larry
Prediction, in context:A Business Wire report on the European IT Forum 1995, sponsored by market-research company International Data Corp., includes a segment on a presentation by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison: ”Ellison’s vision of what the PC will look like in the near future also differed … ‘We believe the world is moving from a desktop point of view to a network-centric point of view, and when you have a network-centric point of view, you don’t need a device as complicated as the PC,’ said Ellison. ‘You can get a terminal for as much as $400-$500.’ In Ellison’s view, software, applications and content will reside on the network, and users will have terminals in their homes to select what they want from the network. Users will want to avoid PC hardware and support services that cost up to $5,000 per year per desktop, said Ellison. The device that consumers will want can be considered a type of ‘Internet appliance,’ Ellison said. ‘A PC is a ridiculous device; the idea is so complicated and expensive,’ he said, adding, ‘What the world really wants is to plug into a wall to get electronic power and plug in to get data.'”
Biography:Larry Ellison was the founder of Oracle and a leading entrepreneur in the 1990s. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: September 5, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Internet Appliances
Name of publication: Business Wire
Title, headline, chapter name: Ellison, Gates Jockey for Position on Info Highway at IDC’s European IT Forum
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=10b583b35d8db4e927149c6d774af9fe&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVlb-lSlzV&_md5=5b3885951838996becae48e23ee86726
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney