Posted on 07/13/2004 12:39:39 PM PDT by YoungHickey
2 hours, 8 minutes ago Add Technology - AFP to My
Yahoo!
FRANKFURT (AFP) - DVDs will be obsolete in 10 years at
the latest, Microsoft boss and founder Bill Gates
(news - web sites) predicted.
Stuck on Tape?
The ultimate guide to digital camcorders, HDTV cameras,
and super-portable video cell phones.
Asked what home entertainment would like in the future,
Gates said that DVD technology would be "obsolete in
10 years at the latest. If you consider that
nowadays we have to carry around film and music on
little silver discs and stick them in the computer,
it's ridiculous," Gates said in comments reproduced
in German in the mass-circulation daily Bild.
"These things can scratch or simply get lost."
Gates' vision of television of the future was: "TV that
will simply show what we want to see, when we want
to see it. When we get home, the home computer will
know who we are from our voice or our face. It will
know what we want to watch, our favourite
programmes, or what the kids shouldn't be allowed to
see."
This reminds me of a goofy seminar I videotaped circa 1995. A "futurist" was the featured speaker; he stood at the podium and rattled off the biggest bunch of NONSENSE I had ever heard, and the people in attendance just sat there and soaked it all up. Remember, this was '95: He said that in the year 2000, when you were watching a movie, you'd be able to push a button on your remote and change the actors around in the roles, or put yourself in the movie as the star. He blathered on with a bunch of crap like that, got paid a ridiculous amount of money for it. Unbelievable.
MM
"LOL. Just like my beta-max!"
I still have a BetaMax.
When Apple stops making innovations for him to add to Windows.
"How do you reboot home when it's locked you in the bathroom and locked all the faucets on ultra-hot?"
"Open the Pod Bay Doors, Hal."
"No, Dave."
I think I'll retain control in my house!
Great! Now my TV, phone, electrical, and plumbing will be susceptible to worms and viruses.
I don't remember that. I was 11 at the though. I actually believe this stuff is possible though. They have the technology. And Gates has the money.
"I WANT MY FLYING CAR"
I still have a Sony Super Beta SL-900 and a Sony VHS; both are mid-80s vintage, and function perfectly. There are hundreds of tapes for each, which still have loads of old movies and TV shows.
Oh sure, I have a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-350 Digital TV Tuner in my super-fast home machine, and a wireless net connection, on my ultra-fast, custom-built RAID-0 SCSI machine at work.
But I still enjoy playing with the "old technology". Liberal-demokkkRAT Billybob Gates can stuff it. Gates can pontificate all he wants, and yes, I do use his products. But he's no more a visionary than anyone else.
Betamax was much better technology than VHS. They were just outnumbered by their competitors.
Elusive Disc is a high-end audiophile equipment retailer from my area. I know the owner, he's a stand-up guy. You can also still buy vinyl records from him. Audiophiles claim that vinyl is superior to CD's.
I burned out on digital photography and started taking slides again.Quess I'm just too old.
The consumer would be out a grand total of twenty-five bucks under this scenario.
On the other hand, a computer running Gates OS would be subject to security holes, normal breakdown of hard drives, and the occasional lockup. Not only that, but you will have big brother monitoring what you are watching and when.
Gates would most likely use this technology to sell movies on a "per use" basis, forcing you to sign another EULA.
No thanks Bill. No matter how cool this sounds, I will keep my DVD library - especially if you are in control of the technology.
That sounds like Ted Nelson. I heard him speak a couple of times in Silicon Valley in the 80s - he was actually quite prescient. Take the hyperlink to his name in my first sentence; he was the first to describe this technology paradigm that I'm aware of.
"640K ought to be enough for anybody." Bill Gates, 1981
Yep, some things are just better without software.
I'm sure he's going to be quiet about it, but support the demoncrats. He always has in the past.
According to opensecrets.org, Bill Gates donated $2,000 to the Bush campaign. He donated to both DemocRAT and Republican incumbents in his state, but he only donated to DemocRAT Congressmen and Senators outside the state of Washington with the exception of John McCain.
-- Marquise de Custin (attributed to.)
Could be Jaron Lanier as well...
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