Gates Proclaims Internet to Revolutionize TV in 5 Years

adamlazz writes "With an explosion of online video content on sites like YouTube and Google Video, Bill Gates believes that the Internet will revoloutionize the television within the next 5 years. 'I'm stunned how people aren't seeing that with TV, in five years from now, people will laugh at what we've had,' Gates told business leaders and politicians at the World Economic Forum. "

Comments

We need an obvious tag

[Bullfish]

In other predictions... people will still be downloading music and movies... the RIAA will still be crying... most TV shows will still be craps and the most secure version of windows yet will be just around the corner

Re:We need an obvious tag

[garcia]

most TV shows will still be craps

I don't know if you can access CurrentTV, but if you can make sure you sit down and watch a couple of pods. This is what he's talking about when he mentions that it's going to revolutionize TV. Viewer submitted content (that they're paying for) that appears on TV is amazing to watch.

You get a first hand account of newly reported news items but without the lame over-processed and practiced "Live Eyewitness News Reporter" feel. Some of the shit on CurrentTV blows my mind and some of it is viewer submitted advertising for products that you would have probably never heard about on the mainstream media.

Now, with archived content available online, we will finally get to see the Tubes be used for part of their potential.

Re:Oh, just what I needed...

[smallfries]

That's probably what people said when Gates proclaimed IPTV in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2007. That's the great thing about predictions, if you make them often enough they must come true...

The Museum of Bill Gates Proclamations

[RonBurk]

Has anybody ever collected all Bill's foresights since he became wealthy enough to be presumed prescient? I'm sure they would be entertaining reading when put all together sequentially.

My prediction is: Bill will tell us that the next version of Windows after Vista is going to be really secure this time.

Re:The Museum of Bill Gates Proclamations

[kfg]

Bill does not actually make predictions. He makes press release statements. They're a form of marketing.

He isn't telling us what he thinks will happen so much as he is telling us what he wants to happen so that he makes a lot of money. By forming it as a prediction he gets the masses to start looking in that direction and expecting what it is he is intending to sell them, thus making it easier to sell it to them, because now they think that's what they "want."

It's similar to telling someone that their neighbor has already bought the widget you're selling; with the implication that if you don't buy one too you've missed the boat. The psychology of the herd. What are "they" going to be wearing next year? Ok, give me some of that.

Thus you cannot embarass Bill by pointing out his failures at prognostication, because he views them as failures to manipulate.

But here's the Gatesian twist: He blames you for it.

KFG

Re:The Museum of Bill Gates Proclamations

[sootman]

Well, I seem to remember him saying in 2004 that spam would be solved within 2 years.

My TV is fine, Gates. Get back to work fixing my inbox--it's overflowing because of all those shitty Windows computers you put out that are now spam zombies.

this from the guy who doesn't own one?

[Speare]

Okay, so Gates hired dozens if not hundreds of developers in the 80s and early 90s who were very familiar with the value of the Internet, yet they missed the bandwagon in incorporating TCP/IP features and protocols until it was already commonplace in the market? And all the while, Gates was smugly declaring that he didn't own a television set and had completely disconnected from the Joe Sixpack culture of sponging in front of a boob tube like the rest of America. Yet, somehow he feels he's adequately informed to see the way that the television culture will shift to an Internet culture in a given timeframe? The only reason that this sounds at all plausible is because Apple and Sony and TiVo and Google and other companies already have been working in that direction. Welcome to the 2000s, Bill.

TV will prevail

[OberonX]

I believe TV, albeit in a different form, will continue to exist for a long time. What a lot people dont seem to realize is that the lack of interaction and choice with TV can be an advantage. The passivity of the watching experience is actually its best selling point, the ability to arrive home tired from work(and likely to have been in front of a computer) and just sit down and watch mindless junk for a couple of hours. TVs role will diminish but I would be doubtful if pre-programmed channels(even if over the internet) will ever disappear.

Why Listen to a Has-Been?

[BoRegardless]

Gates lucked into an OS deal where he wheedled and dealed and even tried to shut out a partner.

Then he tucked together pieces he plucked to form Office, where creative MS programmers put it all together.

But then listen to all the BS that came out of BG since and between Cairo, ME & CE, etc & the constant use of similar adjectives used to describe the next MS product or version, and what floats high on the surface of the water?

"S--t", thats what.

Why does ANYONE take this guy seriously? At this point all he is, is a rich philanthropist!

Sheesh.

Re:Why Listen to a Has-Been?

[BoRegardless]

I never said he is an idiot. I also think BG & SB have kept MS on top by the sweat of a lot of programmers & not BG & SB's hard work (unless you call bullying work).

Bill Gates does NOT have a track record of coming up with innovative, cutting edge, next gen products. In fact, he doesn't have a good track record coming up with better products others already have done, & shall we go through them?

1. Zune...rhymes with doom, and it is not a game
2. IE...still going downhill after giving us malware-virus heaven
3. CE...mobile world does not know it exists
4. Cairo-Longhorn...time moves on, with less features
5. Media Center PCs...oohh a geek's delight
6. MS's Search...Uhhh Bill is too busy to use Google, and his secretary finds what he needs on his hard drive

Bill Gates and "The Chair" Ballmer are strictly into techniques designed to lock their OS & Office monopoly down tighter.

I seriously doubt Bill gates is even interested in TV personally...and that is probably an indication of how little Microsoft will do in that arena.

The only thing that will stand a chance of allowing shareholder value growth is breaking Microsoft up into pieces and letting all the brainpower in each division go wild in search of new products, because Bill & Steve are not going to do it.

Re:"640K ought to be enough for anybody."

[LordEd]

This is Slashdot. When did we start caring about proof when it involves bashing Microsoft?

Re:No chance

[Aladrin]

Why does this always get modded insightful? Some countries have 100megabit internet as the standard. The US is still stuck around 7-10mbit for the majority of us. 7-10mbit is PLENTY to watch TV on. Are you saying that business will be unable to cope with giving the customer what they want to pay for?

In processing power terms, that's like saying 'Nobody will be able to play these 'nextgen' video games because the processing power isn't there.' (Yes, people said that. We have gone FAR beyond that point now.)

In data storage terms, that's like saying games will never look real because you'd have to distribute too much information. (Yes, people said that. CDs came in and kicked this idiocy to the curb. Then DVDs. Then HD-DVD/BluRays.)

The market will be there to provide what we want as soon as we have a use for it. You can count on it.

Re:Oh, just what I needed...

[moranar]

That's probably what people said when Gates proclaimed IPTV in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2007. That's the great thing about predictions, if you make them often enough they must come true...

Y'know, I still don't see flying cars anywhere near. On the other hand, it will be a cold day in Hell before I start paying attention to what Gates has to say about the Internet. His company almost missed it. MSN, hah.