The Daily Telegraph released an article announcing the 9 worst predictions in the history of technology. Being in the technology services industry, we found this article very interesting and amusing. What do you think?
As mere humans, we are arguably not that great at predicting the future. In Back to the Future, Marty McFly travels to the year 2015 giving the scriptwriters and director a chance to be creative with how they saw the future of the world 25 years on. This involved the prediction of flying cars, hoverboards and self drying clothes.
With a bit of artistic license, these can be forgiven but the predictions featured in the worst technology predictions articles were made by big names in the technology industry. Here's a few favourites among the spectacular gaffes...
IBM President Thomas Watson- "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." (1943)
Well...where do we start with this prediction? Is there anything that needs to be said?
Are you reading this on a computer? Yes? Have you had more than five computers in your life? Probably. The verdict: This prediction is pretty horrifyingly wrong, especially coming from someone at a company that recently brought in an annual revenue of $100bn selling computer hardware and software!
Founder of 3Com, Robert Metcalfe- "I predict the internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse." (1995)
This is another prediction that, in hindsight, is laughable. In 2011, there was an estimation of 2.1 billion internet users and this figure is guaranteed to have risen since. Far from collapsing, the internet has now become a vital lifeline for business, communication and information. It's even possible to store things online on cloud platforms such as important documents.
Founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates- "Two years from now, spam will be solved." (2004)
A quick look in my rarely checked spam folder last week revealed over 200 emails over a 30 day period. Sorry Mr Gates, but I think you were a bit far out with that prediction. Unless there's something he's not telling us...
Former writer for the New York Times, David Pogue- "Everyone's always asking me when Apple will come out with a cell phone. My answer is, 'Probably never." (2006)
If Pogue had just held on for one more year he might not have been forced to eat his words. Apple are now onto their 10th model of the iPhone and despite the death of CEO Steve Jobs, the market continues to boom.
How does this relate to Pearl Scan?
So as you can see, it's quite difficult to make a bold statement and predict the future when it comes to technology and often it's just not advised but we like to make a few bold statements of our own. Here at Pearl Scan, we see an increasingly digital world with less reliance on paper based resources and more digital file management. The benefits of going digital can be found in some of our other articles so in terms of progressive business, it's a no brainer.
If you would like some more information on the document scanning and digital document management solutions we offer, feel free to browse our website and blogs or get in touch for a free, no obligation quote.
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