The wait times associated with networked computers will not be an issue thanks to scalable switches that allow network bandwidth to be automatically increased or decreased to support the internode traffic. Lower latency, less overhead, increased reliability and constant cost are also keys to making this work.
The market will move beyond the technology. As technology becomes easier to use, people are going to start forgetting about it. You will focus on what to do with them rather than the tools themselves.
You can say good-bye to mainframes, proprietary minicomputers, servers and workstations.
Scalable computers can grow virtually without bounds and bottlenecks. Processors connected to a single memory pool act as independent computer nodes and are interconnected through a switch to communicate with one another … Scalable computers will enable every computer to be part of a cluster; in that way, companies can put together large computers by adding together many small ones.
Phone communications will evolve toward a single, pervasive digital dial tone for high-speed networks. These will offer bandwidth scalable to several hundred megabits per second for handling video over phone lines and virtual reality.
In the next four to 10 years, there could be a convergence of LAN and WAN with ATM into a single standard. The new ATM will eliminate network delay, enabling a world-scalable computer. With a single standard and a single network for local areas, campuses and wide areas, the high cost of networking could be reduced to the cost of POTS (a.k.a. Plain Old Telephone Service).
Credit cards will contain memory and a processor to identify the card’s owner and protect its contents. They may even carry personal medical data (but that assumes medical record keeping is going to creep out of the Dark Ages).
The sheer power of the microprocessor and increased magnetic capacity will enable the PC to emerge as the most incredibly flexible product component civilization has ever had. PCs may be harnessed as ultrapowerful worldwide nodes on the desktop, wristwatch-size personal digital assistants, voice-activated computers or television/computer combinations in the home.
I see one important future thread in the WWW having nothing to do with marketing, selling, or other commercial activities, but just the way that individuals create a persistent identity for themselves in cyberspace.
When the year 2000 arrives, 32M bytes on a single chip will be the norm.