Personal computing will soon shift away from the desktop and notebook-sized machines that are common today to devices of all sizes that draw much of their power and information from advanced communications networks.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:A Chicago Sun-Times article about Bill Gates’ speech at the 16th fall meeting of the computer trade show Comdex, held Nov. 14, 1994, in Las Vegas, says: ”Personal computing will soon shift away from the desktop and notebook-sized machines that are common today to devices of all sizes that draw much of their power and information from advanced communications networks, Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates said today. The change will provide many opportunities for companies and individuals who do not consider themselves part of the technology world, Gates said at the opening address of Comdex, the computer industry’s largest trade show. ‘This next era that we’re moving into is much different than the original PC era,’ Gates said. ‘That one was done simply by having a few companies believe they could spring it on the world and it was a complete surprise. Here we have thousands of companies and it’s talked about all the time.’ … Gates interacted with an hour-long movie depicting computers in everyday life a decade from now … It showed police officers reading dossiers and maps from the dash of their vehicles, an ambulance attendant sending heart and blood pressure readouts to a hospital and a junior high school student sending a report that incorporated video and music from his notepad-sized computer to a screen in the classroom for all to see. ‘This industry will be at the center of all of it with its software innovation and competitive hardware,’ Gates said. Gates, who is also Microsoft’s chairman and CEO, chose 2005 as the target for the speech but noted that some in the industry believe the things depicted in the movie could happen sooner. ‘I’m not showing any technology that needs to be invented anew,’ he 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 14, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Internet Appliances
Name of publication: Chicago Sun-Times
Title, headline, chapter name: Microsoft’s Gates Predicts New PC Era
Quote Type: Paraphrase
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.