Netscape is … building in the ability to understand the Java language and support it as an execution environment on both the client side and the server side. Then it’s just a general-purpose language. Third parties will be able to create class libraries that layer on top of it that support different ways to easily write applications. Third parties will also be able to write full-fledged applications in it.
Predictor: Andreessen, Marc
Prediction, in context:The following comes from an August 1995 interview between Marc Andreessen and Barry Phillips: ”Netscape is … building in the ability to understand the Java language and support it as an execution environment on both the client side and the server side. Then it’s just a general-purpose language. Third parties will be able to create class libraries that layer on top of it that support different ways to easily write applications. Third parties will also be able to write full-fledged applications in it. That’s different from the OLE model where you get all the objects? Exactly. There’s a couple of big differences from the OLE model. A big difference from OLE period is you get cross-platform. You’re not locked into Windows. Another big advantage over the OLE model is you get all the safety benefits of having it work at the byte code layer rather than at the native machine code layer. You can’t get an OLE object over the Net and just execute it and assume its going to be safe. Because it’s just an arbitrary program running on your system. Its an extremely unsafe thing to do. Whereas you can pull down an Java applet and you can put a set of restrictions around it. For instance you can only give it the ability to open network connections back to the server where it came from. That’s a neat thing, because that means that it can’t be malicious to any other server. You can restrict its ability to access your local file systems. You can restrict its ability to access you own memory. You can scan the byte codes and take a look at what it wants to do before it tries to do it.”
Biography:Marc Andreessen worked with Eric Bina at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in 1992, to develop a browser that would be usable on any computer, easy to use and graphically rich. In 1993, their browser, Mosaic, completely changed the face of the Internet Ð it allowed HTML “image” tags which make it so text and art can appear on the same page; it allowed easy text scrolling; and it introduced hyperlinks, allowing users to simply click on an area of the screen to go to another document on the Internet. In1994, Mosaic was developed and marketed; the product eventually was named Netscape. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: August 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Language/Interface/Software
Title, headline, chapter name: Interview: Marc Andreessen
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.cc.ntnu.edu.tw/~t04002/marc.htm
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Allen, Patrick J.