http://www.elon.edu/predictions/PredictionsSearch.aspx?q=internet&SearchButton=Search
Prediction, in context:
Steve Crocker makes the following remark in a 1991 autobiography he wrote for the Internet Society. Here, he is answering his own question: How will the Internet evolve? He answers it in parts. The third part is titled "More Applications." He writes: "E-mail dominates the Internet, and it's likely to remain the dominant use of the Internet in the future. Nonetheless, I expect to see an exciting array of other applications which become heavily used and cause a change in the perception of the Internet as primarily a 'mail system.' Important databases will become available on the Internet, and applications dependent on those databases will flourish. New techniques and tools for collaboration over a network will emerge. These will include various forms of conferencing and cooperative multimedia document development."
Biography:
Steve Crocker was probably best known in the 1990s as the founder of CyberCash Inc. a leading Internet payments company.
four years later, Bill Gates declares the internet to be a "tidal wave."
The Internet is a tidal wave. It will wash over the computer industry and many others, drowning those who don't learn to swim in its waves.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:
In a 1995 column for the New York Times News Service, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates looked at the general topic of the Internet. He writes: "The Internet is the most important single development in the computer industry since the IBM PC was introduced in 1981. It is even more important than the advent of the graphical user interface, the use of on-screen pictures and fonts ... Like the PC, the Internet is a tidal wave. It will wash over the computer industry and many others, drowning those who don't learn to swim in its waves. The Internet has shortcomings, but they will be overcome. Consequently, companies must account for the Internet in their plans. This is an area where I'm practicing what I preach. Over the past year, I've challenged Microsoft to address the opportunities presented by the Internet. If you looked around Microsoft and said, 'What's the theme that's driving innovation here?' you would discover it is the Internet far more than anything else."