Computer makers need to put “the personal back in personal computers,” providing users with the ability to turn to a computer to accomplish routine everyday tasks the way they would a pen or pencil.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:A Seattle Times article about Bill Gates’ speech at the fall meeting of the computer trade show Comdex, held Nov. 12, 1990 in Las Vegas, says: ”Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said today that he envisions a future where computers replace telephones as the most common and easiest-to-use communication devices. Gates, 35, spoke before a packed auditorium at the annual COMDEX computer show at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. Gates said computer makers need to put ‘the personal back in personal computers,’ providing users with the ability to turn to a computer to accomplish routine everyday tasks the way they would a pen or pencil … Computers should not be limited to desktop models or even lighter ‘laptop’ computers with keyboards, Gates said, describing new handheld notepad-like devices that could use a pen-like stylus to enter handwritten information on a blank slate. The handwritten data would then be transformed automatically to computer code, available for use in corporate or personal data bases. Gates called for a fundamental change in the way information is displayed and distributed among computers, using representations of objects to transfer and process data rather than a series of typed-out commands. Gates said that Microsoft is working on a new version of its Windows graphical interface, which has sold more than a million copies since being updated May 22, that will enable handwriting recognition, better coordination of networked-together PCs and improved linking of object-oriented information. Windows users, he said, will be able to call up an illustration on their screen, for example, revise it and then close the file, all while working in their spreadsheet or word processor. Most programs today require several complicated steps to accomplish such a procedure. Windows also will be used to collect handwritten information from users ‘on the go, in the field,’ Gates said, including delivery-truck drivers or sales representatives, equipped with small, pocket-sized computers. With such software, a word could be deleted simply by drawing a line through it. Microsoft hopes to move the current generation of PC users ‘to an exciting new era of improved desktop applications and truly portable PCs in a way that keeps users’ current applications, and their huge investment in them, intact,’ Gates said.”
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: November 12, 1990
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Language/Interface/Software
Name of publication: Seattle Times
Title, headline, chapter name: Gates Sees Computerized World
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=46ad460e5eaef32129341d7823b94bad
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Heiskell, Abbey K.