What you can scribble on paper you should be able to scribble on the computer … What I’m envisioning is something around the size of a book, about 8 by 10 inches … with a back-lit color display … You could actually read in bed with this computer without disturbing the person next to you because the screen is lit up. It will also have communication in it, so that if I’m reading something that might interest you, I can just circle it and flick it off to your machine. The things I am talking about will be commonplace at a very low price shortly.
Predictor: Bricklin, Dan
Prediction, in context:In a 1992 interview that was run as a complete monologue in Computerworld, Dan Bricklin says: ”The paper that we have today is the same thing that we had before – we write on it. But there is no reason why the medium of paper can’t turn into some electronic thing. Already we don’t really mail paper – we mail an electronic image of paper to people via the fax machine. And that is accepted. So why not get rid of the whole thing and leave it electronic? What you can scribble on paper you should be able to scribble on the computer. People talk about computing at their homes: ‘This is our computer corner.’ But you shouldn’t have to go to the computer. Computing power should be with you. What I’m envisioning is something around the size of a book, about 8 by 10 inches … with a back-lit color display. The thing feels like leather or like those cameras that have a sort of rubbery feel to them. People say, ‘I’ll never read on a computer because I can’t cozy up to it like a book.’ Well, the old good books were bound in leather. There is a reason for it – it feels good to hold in the hand. You could actually read in bed with this computer without disturbing the person next to you because the screen is lit up. It will also have communication in it, so that if I’m reading something that might interest you, I can just circle it and flick it off to your machine. The things I am talking about will be commonplace at a very low price shortly. Home use, cheap, small? Yes. I’ve talked to enough hardware manufacturers to see that that is going to happen. And that is going to be a very personal computer.”
Biography:Dan Bricklin was the inventor of the first big spreadsheet program, VisiCalc, in 1979. In 1995, he founded and became chief technical officer of Trellix, a company making Web tools. Trellix later invested in Pyra Labs, the biggest supplier of Blogging software, in 2001. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: June 1, 1992
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Internet Appliances
Name of publication: Computerworld
Title, headline, chapter name: Tool Maker
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=5b969ccf633dca56eed565816d38db3e&_docnum=11&wchp=dGLbVlz-lSlAl&_md5=b2bda65f887d082f8f4042e4a548cd53
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Bricker, Erin E.