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With set-top boxes, we
will be pressured to replace at least part of our TVs
annually in order to get features we don't really
need. - 1994
~~~
Both those who believe patents are
crucial to the industry and those who believe patents
will cause irreparable harm [are] claiming that the
unique nature of software requires sweeping changes in
U.S. intellectual property laws ... The problem isn't
the much-maligned patent office, it's people's
egos. - 1994
~~~
Experts point to anti-pollution laws
and two-career families as the driving forces behind
telecommuting's resurgence. While the Clean Air Act
may cause a small increase in telecommuting, most
employees still believe that physical visibility is
necessary for promotions, and this will keep
telecommuting from catching on. - 1994
~~~
The idea of an intelligent agent
that can whisk away our tedious work is incredibly
seductive. But it is also a dangerous idea to promote. In
the 1980s, many database companies discovered that
promoting a "natural-language interface" is the
kiss of death because customers then expect too much. To
connect your product with "intelligent agents"
risks far greater customer disappointment. - 1994
~~~
Sure, we all knew that the Net was
going to become more commercial, but it still is somehow
unsettling to see your formerly pastoral town filled with
new high-rises, billboards, and gawking tourists.
What's strange is the mass media's portrayal of
net.pioneers as a bunch of rabid anti-business hippies -
as if most people are delighted with TV commercials and
junk mail. Advertising may be inevitable, but it's
still worth bitching about. - 1994
~~~
We just need to figure out why
telephones should merge with computers in the first
place. True, the combination could help telemarketers.
But for most of us, it's as useful as a computerized
toaster. - 1995
~~~
The upcoming battle that really
matters is the up-start Microsoft Network versus the
older, but crowd-pleasing Internet ... It says a lot
about Microsoft's reputation that even though the
Internet weighs in with 30 million subscribers to
MSN's zero, it's the Internet that's being
painted as the underdog. But my money is on the Net, a
wily opponent with a record of swallowing up any
competition. Forget age versus youth; this fight will be
a morality tale about hubris. - 1995
~~~
By providing a low-cost,
high-quality phone service - with the freedom of mobility
thrown in - PCS vendors will gouge the revenues of local
phone companies. Your home phone and mobile phone will be
one and the same. Once again, technology will have
destroyed a monopoly where legislation failed. -
1995
~~~
Because people are used to owning
information, not leasing it, tangible forms of media like
CD-ROM will be with us for a long time. - 1995
~~~
The history of U.S. technology is
the history of a recurring U.S. dream: new inventions
will empower the individual more than the corporation ...
A current variant is the prediction that the anarchic
Internet will turn people into media makers and kill off
more restrictive commercial services like America Online
and CompuServe. This prediction has two flaws. First, in
a society satisfied by "Baywatch" reruns, few
people will produce or consume the amateur media. Second,
no matter how nice the Web viewer, the unstructured
Internet will always be much harder to use than an online
service. - 1995
~~~
Who wants to participate in the kind
of sterile, cartoony world that companies like CompuServe
and Prodigy are doomed to create? Perhaps a few ... but
the rest will want to move into grittier, less- planned
online worlds. This new digital landscape will not offer
architects or urban planners the jobs they're really
angling for. - 1995
~~~
The dream is to use the existing
cable network to bring high-speed Net connectivity to the
home. While in theory the cable network can handle
transmission speeds that leave phone lines in the dust,
in reality much of the network will need to be
refurbished to support such data transmission.
Nonetheless, the specter of cable modems should help to
spur on ISDN deployment. - 1995
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