Today’s personal computers are headed for technological oblivion because they are fundamentally stand-alone devices designed to accommodate a wide range of tasks at the expense of doing any one particularly well.
Predictor: Saffo, Paul
Prediction, in context:In a 1991 article for The New York Times, futurist Paul Saffo writes about the future of the PC as an information appliance for networking and other uses: ”Today’s personal computers are headed for technological oblivion because they are fundamentally stand-alone devices designed to accommodate a wide range of tasks at the expense of doing any one particularly well. PCs will still be around, but relegated to an obscurity similar to that reserved for typewriters today.”
Biography:Paul Saffo was the director of a decades-old research and forecasting foundation called the Institute for the Future, located in Menlo Park, Calif., in the 1990s. This Institute was a non-profit think tank that consulted for a large number of businesses and government entities, including telecommunications and consumer companies. (Futurist/Consultant.)
Date of prediction: October 13, 1991
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Internet Appliances
Name of publication: New York Times
Title, headline, chapter name: Farewell, PC – What’s Next?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.saffo.org/farewellpc.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stotler, Larry