That's called having foresight, vision and a finger on the pulse of the tech world. Despite his OS and company, Gates really did see the future coming.
Here's the Deslidified version.
Here's the Deslidified version.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Bill Gates MAde 15 Predictions In 1999 And They're All Coming True
- Thread starter RootBeerMan
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Seems like at least some of the things that were mentioned already existed in one form or another when the predictions were made in 1999. And a number of other ones that didn't quite exist, were certainly talked about already at that point, many of which were certainly even part of general science fiction and academia essentially as predictors as to what life will be like in the (near) future.
Last edited:
#11 (Online discussion boards) and #12 (Interest-based online sites) existed long before 1999. Heck, they existed even before the Internet existed. They were called bulletin board systems and were connected by phone lines and modems. Heck, I ran one myself.
Nice, yes, I did too, RBBS, and later (for a much longer time) Wildcat! I remember registering as a BBS-SYSOP with USR and scoring their HST modems at a discount.
I remember an interview with him, way before blogs existed, where he said all our lives will be recorded and archived. It’s funny to see how people optionally provided such info via blogging and now social media.
He truly is/was ahead of the times. I really like the guy. He’s very socially aware and intelligent.
He truly is/was ahead of the times. I really like the guy. He’s very socially aware and intelligent.
NOT!!!
I was doing most of those things Gates listed in 1996!!!!
Back then it was complex and crude.
In the early 1990's (more like late 80's) you had online-servcies like CompuServe, AOL, GEnie, and a few others.
Before that universities had "ListServes" and BBS's, as well as online repositories on VAX systems (amoung others).
And ever heard of CUSeeMe?? VIDEO conferencing, started in 1992!! (I was doing that on my PowerBook 520c over dial-up landline in 1996, Connectix camera)
Mobile devices?? Sony, Prism, Apple,... there was devices before that, they where wirelessly connected (IRDA)
#6: he said PRIVATE. It was fiarly easy to create private web sites. The public one he did not predict.
so NO, nothing Gates said is a prediction. He just collected everything that already was and predictions others said could happen.
Predictions are based on what you think will happen. In this case, many things he stated were already happening. Nothing he said is considered new in that time. It was either already happening (forums via vBulletin) or being developed (iPod, phones with text).