8 Can't Miss Predictions... for 1998

alphadogg-nw writes "Tired of being wrong too often, a Network World pundit applies 20-20 hindsight to this list of prognostications for 1998, which if he's right will turn out to be quite a year. Among the forecasts: The U.S. Department of Justice will go medieval on Microsoft, Compaq will buy what's left of DEC, AOL likewise Netscape, Apple will introduce something said to look like an Easter egg ... and then there's the deafening buzz about this new search engine called Google."

Wow! That was easy.

[morgan_greywolf]

My predictions for 1988:

10. MS-DOS 4.0 will ship, finally, by mid-year. It will be so buggy and crash so much that Microsoft will be forced to release an update, MS-DOS 4.01, by year's end.
9. Liquid crystal will be discovered by Frederick Reintzer.
8. Someone will introduce a simple network management protocol, probably called SNMP. Nobody will care.
7. An alternative bus to IBM's Micro Channel Architecture will be introduced. Expect it to be called something like EISA -- Extended Industry Standard Architecture.
6. An Internet Relay Chat system called IRC will be developed.
5. A company called Creative Labs will introduce a sound card called the SoundBlaster, which will establish defacto standards for years to come.
4. People obsessed with clocks will introduce the Network Time Protocol, which will allow computers to sync their clocks over the Internet.
3. The first T-1 backbone will be added to ARPANET.
2. Motorola will release a new processor, the 88000. No one will care.
1. Apple will sue Microsoft over the trash can icon.

Wow!

[Otter]

In a first-of-its-kind case, a California jury will convict a U.C.-Irvine dropout, Richard Machado, of sending threatening and hateful e-mail to students of Asian dissent.

Between the timeliness of this story, his spelling, and his belief that Bill Gates is facing criminal charges, Paul McNamara sounds like he'd fit in well here as an editor.

oooooh

[LiquidCoooled]

6. Prediction: Congress to pass Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The skinny: Congress will approve the DMCA by a unanimous vote and President Clinton will sign it into law, because, well, everyone favors copyright protection.

Long-term outlook: The only possible trouble with this one that I can foresee would be if someone were to launch a Web site that allowed anyone and everyone to post video clips of whatever they pleased. That might get sticky.


I thought pornotube was stickier than youtube, but I suppose both are up to their necks.

Mod parent up

[elrous0]

And tell Taco to RTFA too.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

A question -

[banda]

What exactly are "students of Asian dissent"?

Would that include anyone who took a 20th century history class? Why be mad at them?

Re:Digg?

[sm62704]

the front page isn't rife with spelling errors, grammatical errors, and poor headlines

Um WHAT? You're talking about slashdot? THIS slashdot?

-mcgrew

Re:Bad headline

[sm62704]

My predictions for 2008, all will happen (balls of crystal, I tell ya)

• the earth will not be hit by an extinction-causing assteroid [wikipedia.org]
  
• Someone will invent something. The invention may actually be useful
  
• Somebody will launch something or someone into outer space.
  
• Someone will post "FIRST POST! with the comment "frosty piss" and be modded "offtopic"
  
• Someone will say something about the USSR, Natalie Portmen, a Beowolf cluster, or CowboyNeal and be modded "+5 funny"
  
• I will continue to write slashdot journals about prostitutes [slashdot.org]
  
• I will get at least one haircut this year. Maybe this afternoon.
  
• CmdrTaco won't command her "taco"
  
• Google [whatever] will remain in beta
  
• Microsoft will keep pissing everyone off
  
• 2008 will not see Linux overtake Windows
  
• I'll be turned down and stood up
  
• CowboyNeal won't get laid

-mcgrew

Re:Digg?

[dbolger]

I believe he was trying to keep his post on-topic.

Clearly he is referring to the Slashdot of 1998 ;)

Re:Bad headline

[red_dragon]

In Soviet Russia, Natalie Portman uses a Beowulf cluster built by CowboyNeal to submit a first post with the comment "frosty piss".

There you go, you can scratch one off of your list. You're welcome.

Re:Predictions for 2008

[Toonol]

Amazingly enough, 2008 will be the year in which everything collapses. All economic, social, and political issues will come to their inevitably horrible conclusions.

No, really, it will be this year. All the portents are there. Similar predictions for all previous years were due to misinterpreting the signs.

Of course, if my warning is heeded, we may stave off the collapse for another year. That just reinforces how correct my predictions were.

Re:A question -

[Grandiloquence]

"Students of Asian dissent" would include anyone who studies people who claim not to be Asian, obviously.