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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."

125 comments

  1. Digg? by InvisblePinkUnicorn · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Should Slashdot just redirect to digg and get it over with? How is this news?

    1. Re:Digg? by AstrumPreliator · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Slashdot has a much more focused story selection, the front page isn't rife with spelling errors, grammatical errors, and poor headlines, and finally the moderated comments on Slashdot are usually pretty good and I enjoy reading them. If I want to see some funny picture from 2001 complete with a terrible headline and mind numbingly stupid comments I'll go to digg. I'm not trying to bash digg too hard since I do visit it about as frequently as slashdot, but slashdot is definitely easier to read and the comments are really what makes slashdot special to me.

    2. Re:Digg? by cHiphead · · Score: 4, Informative

      I "switched" to digg for about 2 months before it got excessively annoying. Ever since the interface change I've been 99% slashdot for comments, no more wasting my time on digg comments system, their useless trolls are nowhere near as entertaining as /.'s.

      Cheers.

      --

      This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
    3. Re:Digg? by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Funny

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

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

      -mcgrew

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    4. Re:Digg? by dbolger · · Score: 5, Funny

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

      Clearly he is referring to the Slashdot of 1998 ;)

    5. Re:Digg? by fbjon · · Score: 0

      No, he's talking about digg. For slashdot those are merely 'aggravatingly frequent'.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    6. Re:Digg? by jesse285 · · Score: 1

      Slashdot has a much more focused story selection, the front page isn't rife with spelling errors, grammatical errors, and poor headlines, and finally the moderated comments on Slashdot are usually pretty good and I enjoy reading them. If I want to see some funny picture from 2001 complete with a terrible headline and mind numbingly stupid comments I'll go to digg. I'm not trying to bash digg too hard since I do visit it about as frequently as slashdot, but slashdot is definitely easier to read and the comments are really what makes slashdot special to me. O, I bite, so tell me where that leave the rest of us, I alway have like dig g, don't have no problem but what about the other one?
  2. Bad headline by MSTCrow5429 · · Score: 5, Informative
    The headline is misleading. These aren't predictions for 1998, they're written by a guy in 2008 as if they were written in 1998. That's what the "hindsight" part means.

    My prediction for 2008: Major worldwide recession, due to the massive inflationary bubble bursting, an inability of the central banks to continue using inflation to create a false sense of prosperity, and stagflation.

    --
    Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
    1. Re:Bad headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you need to RTFA. The predictions ARE for 1998, just not written in 1997.

    2. Re:Bad headline by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If it occurs after the fact, it's not a prediction.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    3. Re:Bad headline by sm62704 · · Score: 5, Funny
      My predictions for 2008, all will happen (balls of crystal, I tell ya)
      • the earth will not be hit by an extinction-causing assteroid
      • 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
      • 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
      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    4. Re:Bad headline by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1

      My prediction for 2008: Idiots predicting imminent doom like they always have.

    5. Re:Bad headline by eat+here_get+gas · · Score: 1

      but Ive never heard of a postdiction...

      --
      the significance of a signature is insignificant
    6. Re:Bad headline by MSTCrow5429 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, but sometimes, if you have even a dim understanding of economics and finance, and you follow current events, it doesn't take a Cassandra to sound the alarms. I've acquired something more than a merely dim understanding of economics and finance, mind you. As for imminent doom, such as Earth being blasted by a gamma ray burst (unless we aren't being told something), or global warming, yeah, that's the idiots talking.

      --
      Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
    7. Re:Bad headline by fbjon · · Score: 1

      (balls of crystal, I tell ya) So who's viewing them?
      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    8. Re:Bad headline by red_dragon · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

      --
      In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
    9. Re:Bad headline by Nullav · · Score: 1

      Nah, it was just a postemptive prediction.

      --
      I just read Slashdot for the articles.
    10. Re:Bad headline by Doctor+Faustus · · Score: 1

      Someone will say something about the USSR, Natalie Portmen, a Beowolf cluster, or CowboyNeal and be modded "+5 funny"
      Wait, so does your post count?

    11. Re:Bad headline by Kazymyr · · Score: 1

      My predictions for 1945:

      WWII will end
      Hitler will commit suicide
      A new explosive device will be invented that can obliterate a city

      --
      I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
    12. Re:Bad headline by Swampash · · Score: 1

      It's shitty articles with shitty summaries like this that remind me why subscribing to Slashdot would be a total waste of money.

      I also expect Zonk to re-post this shitty article with a different shitty summary in three days.

    13. Re:Bad headline by El_Oscuro · · Score: 1

      Apparently. Look at how his post was modded.

      --
      "Be grateful for what you have. You may never know when you may lose it."
    14. Re:Bad headline by rubah · · Score: 1

      Someone will say something about the USSR, Natalie Portmen, a Beowolf cluster, or CowboyNeal and be modded "+5 funny"

      Re:Bad headline (Score:5, Funny) by sm62704 (957197) Alter Relationship on Wednesday January 02, @10:13AM (#21882880) Homepage Wow, you were right!
    15. Re:Bad headline by dmclap · · Score: 1

      Is this where your post is modded offtopic to really complete the list?

    16. Re:Bad headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From your journal:
      But on the other hand, I guess all women are prostitutes. The most expensive sex I ever had cost me a house, a car, and part of my pension

      Here's another prediction for you. You'll continue to be lonely and your only sex will be with hookers.

      We all get screwed over. I've lost money (though never a house and car). If you don't let it go, you'll never be happy.

      I'm happily married now.

    17. Re:Bad headline by ChainedFei · · Score: 1

      Just imagine a Beowulf Cluster of Natalie Portmans.

    18. Re:Bad headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You didn't make the "modded +5" part...

    19. Re:Bad headline by ezdude · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I think we got it.

    20. Re:Bad headline by sm62704 · · Score: 1

      My Friends, the Whores

      And I probably shouldn't be making comments at slashdot this week because I got my nerd license suspended yesterday afternoon. I'd chronicle it in my journal but I got my nerd license suspended and they won't let me... will they?

      Damn, now I'm in trouble. I hope I don't get pulled over and ticketed for commenting on a suspended license!

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    21. Re:Bad headline by sm62704 · · Score: 1

      Someone will say something about the USSR, Natalie Portmen, a Beowolf cluster, or CowboyNeal and be modded "+5 funny"
      Wait, so does your post count?


      Self-fulfilling prophesy?

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  3. Altavista by hey! · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Y'know, I liked Altavista a great deal. It was a rare case of a great product getting its block knocked off by an even better one. Still, for some time I found Altavista's more bells-and-whistley approach useful for triangulatin Google results, at least until Google engineers seemingly perfected their MROIPP (Mind Reading Over Internet Protocols Protocol) technology.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    1. Re:Altavista by scsirob · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just wondering if 'Alta' and 'Vista' were actually meant to be two words, as in "Old Vista". Looks like they are doing equally well as the "New Vista". sort-of-ok start, followed by a quick demise once a real alternative shows up...

      --
      To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
    2. Re:Altavista by Ours · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's Spanish:
      Alta = something high
      Vista = view
      Translated to "high-view" and from my understanding it's some place in California.

      --
      "You superiour intellect is no match for our puny weapons" - The Simpsons
    3. Re:Altavista by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Y'know, I liked Altavista a great deal.
      As did I. Back when Google started to rise AltaVista was pretty bad by comparison, but not too long ago when Google failed to find what I was looking for AltaVista actually came through. Today it's pretty darn good in terms of results, but it still lacks certain useful feature like an equivalent of Google's cache. It's the only two search engines I've used regularly ever since I first got online, never could stand Yahoo!, and personally I think AltaVista's looks cooler than Google.
    4. Re:Altavista by Marcos+Eliziario · · Score: 1

      Strange Coincidences?

      AltaVISTA was from DEC.
      A lot of the engineers who wrote windows NT came from DEC, Windows Vista is basically a reincarnation of NT.

      (PS: Yeah, I know, it's bullshit. And I am grateful that there is not a "-1 Stupid Moron" option, but you can use Troll or Flamebait as usual)

      --
      Your ad could be here!
    5. Re:Altavista by Vellmont · · Score: 3, Interesting


      Y'know, I liked Altavista a great deal. It was a rare case of a great product getting its block knocked off by an even better one.

      I liked Altavista too, and had a similar reaction about it being better than Google until about 2000.

      The only quibble I have is that AltaVista died because they started thinking they were a portal like Yahoo, and not a search engine. They didn't figure out targeted ads, turned their site into a Yahoo clone, and did a "me too!" with email. If they'd done what Google did, focus on the search technology, give away better email than Yahoo was giving away at the time, and stop trying to beat Yahoo at being Yahoo, I think Google would still mean "a really big number".

      --
      AccountKiller
    6. Re:Altavista by SharpFang · · Score: 3, Informative

      Unfortunately, no, by the end, not.

      I stayed with Altavista quite long. I tried Google once, soon after it emerged, didn't feel impressed and went back to Altavista. And for the time, It Was Good.

      I kept using it for another 2 or 3 years and saw it go down the drain.

      First, they fell victim to spammers. People figured out how to position their sites with it, and any somewhat common keyword yielded many pages of commercial junk before you could get to content, and first 10 or so positions for mostly -any- keyword were occupied by spam links.

      Then they started adding ads. Sponsored links replacing first search results, some obnoxious popups, really bad junk. Remember these were times before Adblock. It was utter junk.

      Then it stopped keeping up with progress. Sites took months to get indexed, and 404s even more to get removed. The results were a total junk.

      I gave Google another chance and was hugely impressed. It was still before people figured out most of pagerank tricks and Google was almost totally spam-free. I had my results within first 3-4 links, not after 3-4 pages!

      Red Queen was right: "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

      --
      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    7. Re:Altavista by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, most likely. Still I find it interesting, but I don't have any mod points.

    8. Re:Altavista by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      They didn't figure out targeted ads, turned their site into a Yahoo clone, and did a "me too!" with email.

      Worse than that, they did a "screw you" with email. My years-old, two-letter @altavista.net email was discontinued and I was told to select among some three+plus letter @altavista.com address. Email being what it is, I refrained from free email providers since then for anything serious.

    9. Re:Altavista by QJimbo · · Score: 1

      I always figured the name was suggesting it gave you a birdseye view over the internet, or like looking at a city from a mountain top. Nice way to describe an internet search engine really.

  4. Wow! That was easy. by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  5. Wow! by Otter · · Score: 4, Funny
    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.

    1. Re:Wow! by ByOhTek · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I like how the iMac revolutionized personal computing the most funny.

      It made it come in a smaller package, but hardly revolutionized given it's comparatively small takeup to other computer styles, and the fact that it didn't really change how a computer was used.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    2. Re:Wow! by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      About the only things you can give credit to the iMac for are re-animating Apple and popularizing USB.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:Wow! by MMC+Monster · · Score: 1

      About the only things you can give credit to the iMac for are re-animating Apple and popularizing USB. Don't forget getting rid of the 3.5" floppy drive. Those things were not going away in the PC world, even though they were good for nothing.

      I just with the iMacs popularized firewire instead of USB. USB for anything more than mice and keyboards (looking over at those external hard drives in the corener of the store...) is not nearly as efficient as firewire.
      --
      Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
    4. Re:Wow! by peragrin · · Score: 1

      The iMac tossed out the floppy drive and relied on USB instead of old connectors. If the iMac revolutionized anything It should computers didn't have to be a large beige box, that looked it like belongs in a cube farm instead of someone's home. It took Dell 5 more years to figure that part out.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    5. Re:Wow! by ByOhTek · · Score: 1

      I thought USB was popular prior to the iMac. If I remember correctly, it was Firewire that they helped bring to the forefront.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    6. Re:Wow! by Otter · · Score: 1

      No, it was USB. (It had been in use before, but was poorly supported.) For years after, almost all USB peripherals were made of translucent blue plastic.

    7. Re:Wow! by blhack · · Score: 1

      Don't forget getting rid of the 3.5" floppy drive. Those things were not going away in the PC world, even though they were good for nothing. is this supposed to be sarcastic? The loss of the floppy drive is one of the biggest pains in the butt as far as home/office computing goes. Without a floppy, there is no rewritable, removable, bootable media that you can use for recovery when something goes awry (at that time).

      Granted, cd writers have become ubiquitous...but there is nothing that beats a DOS boot disk in a pinch.
      --
      NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
    8. Re:Wow! by egomaniac · · Score: 3, Informative

      I thought USB was popular prior to the iMac. If I remember correctly, it was Firewire that they helped bring to the forefront.

      Nope, it was USB. Everybody on the Windows side of things was still using the legacy ports, it was hard to find USB peripherals and they were buggy. The iMac's popularity forced manufacturers to add decent USB support to their devices. Printers went parallel + USB, mice switched over to USB w/ PS/2 adapters, etc. Plus everything was available in your choice of five translucent colors.

      And the damned legacy adapters still won't die over on the PC side of things. Most KVM switches, for example, still only support PS/2 connectors, and I had to buy a USB-to-DB9 connector to be able to program my universal remote control. Love Apple or hate 'em, you've got to admit that they're good at getting people to drop the old broken standards and move forward. We need to put them in charge of getting the US over to metric.

      --
      ZFS: because love is never having to say fsck
    9. Re:Wow! by ByOhTek · · Score: 1

      I bought my USB (no PS/2) KVM several years ago. IOGear, it's actually a nice piece of equipment. When I got it there were several models out by several companies. There have been a number since.

      My current mail/web server runs off of a circa 97 (maybe '98? It's a Tyan Trinity S1598 motherboard) x86 box with USB on it (built into the motherboard), and it works perfectly.

      I've seen plenty of legacy, but in every case, both legacy and non-legacy have been available, in many both have been available in the same product. It's nice to have all the options if you don't want to upgrade yet.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    10. Re:Wow! by SilentBob0727 · · Score: 1

      there is no rewritable, removable, bootable media that you can use for recovery You're right.
      --
      Life would be easier if I had the source code.
    11. Re:Wow! by cnettel · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but the fact that it took Dell five additional years could also be interpreted in the way that the introduction of the iMac wasn't really that groundbreaking. The same could be said about the 3.5" floppy drive -- they continued to be included in many PCs for many years after that, and the real killer there was reasonably the CD writers and (USB!) flash drives, in addition to very widespread networking. The original iMac didn't have a CD writer, and as small USB flash memories were non-existent, I would argue that they were too early. (BTW, I hope no one would say that the original Macintosh killed the 5.25" floppy...)

    12. Re:Wow! by mini+me · · Score: 2

      The plastic on the iMac was pretty revolutionary. Even today, you still see several products that were inspired by the original iMac design.

    13. Re:Wow! by eclectic4 · · Score: 1

      Um, on a Mac, and you could even do this with the old G3 iMacs that had firewire, any FW external hard drive could be used as the boot drive. For PCs, yes, you are correct, but we weren't talking about PCs...

      --

      "The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel Boorstin
    14. Re:Wow! by PReDiToR · · Score: 1

      USB booting is a luxury that still hasn't come to my house.

      Even having 8 IDE devices onboard isn't enough when you just want to boot off your own USB recovery key.
      Chainloader doesn't work until you have USB support, and VMware isn't always the best test environment.

      --

      Do not meddle in the affairs of geeks for they are subtle and quick to anger
    15. Re:Wow! by Neil+Hodges · · Score: 1

      I don't know; I've been booting off of CDs for the longest time (mainly for installing some *nix), and all of my old floppy disks have since gone bad.

    16. Re:Wow! by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I can't even tell you the last time I saw a floppy disk recovery disk. Spin Rite still goes that way, but can be put on a CD as well. I have a program that makes a floppy disk image into a bootable USB stick, but haven't used it in ages. It's hard to find a computer that can't write to a CD these days.

      Still have a floppy drive on my current PC, though it is behind the front panel of the case - you have to open the front of the case to get to it. I did that because it was ugly, I wasn't using it, and it kept filling with dust :)

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    17. Re:Wow! by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      My memory is a bit hazy, but I remember it being somewhat amusing. I think that Intel was pushing USB, while Apple and MS both wanted Firewire. Windows 98 shipped with good Firewire support, but not USB. The iMac was the opposite - shipping only with USB and no Firewire. Weird. I think that the iMac really is what pushed MS into supporting USB. I remember clearly having Intel-based motherboards with USB on the back, but they didn't do anything because the OS didn't support them.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    18. Re:Wow! by calyphus · · Score: 1

      memory is a bit hazy...Intel was pushing USB, while Apple and MS both wanted Firewire Your memory is missing one item. Intel developed USB with a theoretical capacity of 127 devices per port, but had difficulty getting it to actually work as spec'd. Apple got it to work reliably. Until Apple engineers fixed it USB was not ready for mass use. It's a great example of how Apple delivers real plug and play vs. a microsoft slogan "Plug 'n Play" which really meant plug 'n pray.
      --


      The potato it is uninformed.
    19. Re:Wow! by rmerry72 · · Score: 1

      If the iMac revolutionized anything It should computers didn't have to be a large beige box, that looked it like belongs in a cube farm instead of someone's home. It took Dell 5 more years to figure that part out.

      Cause that's the important feature of an computing device. It looks nice - well, er, nicer than a beige box. Cause Dell were just aiming at a different type of sheep. Maybe Apple can "innovate" handbags or fridges next. Hell, maybe Jobs should talk to NASA. I betcha a few "important" design modifications - like a new shape and colour paint - will fix those tired old space shuttles right up, and we be flying to the moon by 2012!

      --
      We do not inherit the Earth from our parents. We borrow it from our children.
    20. Re:Wow! by Abreu · · Score: 1

      Love Apple or hate 'em, you've got to admit that they're good at getting people to drop the old broken standards and move forward. We need to put them in charge of getting the US over to metric. We can only dream
      --
      No sig for the moment.
  6. oooooh by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  7. Dupe somehow by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 1

    Isn't this somehow a dupe since all those were probably posted when they really happened?

    --
    stuff |
  8. Mod parent up by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    And tell Taco to RTFA too.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Mod parent up by Pharmboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No reason to RTFA, its lame, and it appears it is a very slow news day and they needed something on the front page for this hour. I hate being so negative, but if you do REFA, you will see that this is really weak.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    2. Re:Mod parent up by Forge · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually what's wrong with taco's post is the icon.

      This article should have had the "foot". Except that it was not that funny :(

      PS: In a side note, this journalist (Paul McNamara) is probably just training to become a stock market annalist. A profession dominated by guys who make a living by "Predicting the past" with moderate accuracy.

      --
      --= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
  9. It's Deja News all over again by davidwr · · Score: 1

    Deja News circa 1998.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  10. Apparently... by angryfirelord · · Score: 0

    ...someone's generating ad revenue again.

  11. good headline by Racemaniac · · Score: 1

    well, that's exactly what the headline and summary told me ^^
    maybe you're not so good at getting hints or so, but it was quite clear to me...

    and if the headline didn't make things clear, the summary should be...

  12. Dumb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is a really, really dumb article. I'm astonished that this made it to /.'s front page ... wtf?

    1. Re:Dumb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you know i hear that about every article slashdot posts... If you can't stand slashdot move to digg

  13. Re:Wow! That was easy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My letter to the editor from 1988.

    What is this "internet" you speak of?

  14. Predictions from 1998 by drewsup · · Score: 0

    I predict that Duke Nukem Forever will be out for Q 2 0f 2010 and that it will positively kick ass!

  15. Re:Wow! That was easy. by root_42 · · Score: 3, Informative

    > My predictions for 1988: ...
    > 9. Liquid crystal will be discovered by Frederick Reintzer.

    According to Wikipedia [1] that happened in 1888.

    [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystals#History

    --
    [--- PGP key and more on http://www.root42.de ---]
  16. Predicting the past? by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Eh, I guess I miss something, what is the point of predicting the past? Poorly?

    1. Re:Predicting the past? by katre · · Score: 2, Insightful

      We have this thing called humor. This article may be a sub-par example of humor, but that would seem to be its point.

    2. Re:Predicting the past? by tic!lock · · Score: 1


        Who knows? But it's popular - at least here in the US, our voting population does it every couple years.

        tic!lock

    3. Re:Predicting the past? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eh, I guess I miss something, what is the point of predicting the past? Poorly?

      I would guess that the point is to generate page impressions and therefore advertising revenue.
      Just a guess.

  17. Just a second there by Bandman · · Score: 2, Informative
    1. Re:Just a second there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're confusing a refutation with an ability to put a link on a page.

      Which of the items on that page represent innovation, rather than purchase or copying an existing system?

      (N.B. Google collaborative tools often use concepts that they've simply scoured the web for, hiring people involved in projects that impress them. Marks will not be given for these examples.)

  18. A question - by banda · · Score: 4, Funny

    What exactly are "students of Asian dissent"?

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

    1. Re:A question - by nullCRC · · Score: 1

      What did they dissent from?

      --
      Vescere bracis meis.
    2. Re:A question - by cylcyl · · Score: 1

      What exactly are "students of Asian dissent"? You know, it's those darn Youth-In-Asia people.
    3. Re:A question - by Grandiloquence · · Score: 3, Funny

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

    4. Re:A question - by Hacker-at-Large · · Score: 1

      That would be those protesting legalized euthanasia

  19. Buzz by michaelmalak · · Score: 1

    deafening buzz about this new search engine called Google
    Funny thing about that buzz -- other search engines of the time had equal or better results, such as directhit/HotBot, which used click-throughs and dwell times to improve search results for subsequent users -- something Google is only now getting around to doing.
    1. Re:Buzz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I used to use HotBot. It was a lot better than the old guard search engines of the day (lycos, altavista, etc.) but it wasn't nearly as good as google. Google produced good search results on a wide variety of search topics, even relatively obscure topics, and did so consistently. HotBot and the other next-gen search competitors were never as consistent as google.

    2. Re:Buzz by cnettel · · Score: 1

      The buzz are not about good hits, it's about funny ones, like all evil and Microsoft... (Hey, that's how I first heard of Google.)

  20. Re:Why modded Troll? by ericspinder · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Should Slashdot just redirect to digg and get it over with? How is this news? Why was this one modded 'troll'?

    Troll - "is someone who posts controversial messages in an on-line community such as an on-line discussion forum with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response." I think it fits, and would meta moderate it as such, if given the opportunity (and taking it).

    Seriously, Taco, you're letting the quality of /. slip below Digg.

    While I agree with you that /. editors could do a better job with some of the summaries and occasionally a particularly poor submission creeps in (slownewsday is often an appropriate tag for such stories), but it's hardy the mess that I've seen on Digg.

    --
    The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
  21. Re:Wow! That was easy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to Wikipedia [1] that happened in 1888. Hence prediction for 1988.
  22. Not computer related but..... by BigBadBus · · Score: 1
  23. Predictions for 2008 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    My prediction for 2008: Major worldwide recession, due to the massive inflationary bubble bursting, an inability of the central banks to continue using inflation to create a false sense of prosperity, and stagflation.

    Add to that: $7/gallon gasoline in the USA, unemployment rates rising to 15% or higher, major upswings in crime rates, further tightening of the grip by the police state mentalities, more erosion of people's rights and freedoms and govt intrusions into privacy, riots in large cities, rise of vigilatism by people who've had enough, another stolen election, and big media trying to distract all the stupid public's attention away from reality by focusing in with even more sensationalistic news coverage of some Hollywood bimbos' pregnancies/drug arrests/relationship affairs/whatever.

    1. Re:Predictions for 2008 by Toonol · · Score: 2, Funny

      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.

    2. Re:Predictions for 2008 by wertarbyte · · Score: 3, Informative

      Add to that: $7/gallon gasoline in the USA

      Oh boy, stop crying: 7 (U.S. dollars / US gallon) = 1.2587328 Euros / liter

      We are way past that in europe (approaching 1.5 EUR here in germany) for some time now. And guess what? Civilisation is not collapsing.

      --
      Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh.
    3. Re:Predictions for 2008 by Abreu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But please remember that most europeans have access to decent public transportation... Poor gringos have to drive everywhere...

      --
      No sig for the moment.
    4. Re:Predictions for 2008 by turing_m · · Score: 1

      "We are way past that in europe (approaching 1.5 EUR here in germany) for some time now. And guess what? Civilisation is not collapsing."

      That's because your civilization was not engineered by oil and car companies.

      --
      If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
    5. Re:Predictions for 2008 by Khaed · · Score: 1

      In addition to there being good public transport there, a lot of people don't live right on top of their jobs and have hour long drives back and forth. In many cases, because living in the same city would cost more than the gas; but if gas prices double or triple, it'll be a lot worse for them. Civilization may not collapse, but it'll but the hurt on a lot of people without much spare money.

      I imagine the average American has a further daily drive than the average European.

    6. Re:Predictions for 2008 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know about the continent, but for me in the UK it costs twice as much to take public transport than to drive. It's also slower (when it's on time) and with 95% punctuality, you'll be late at least once a fortnight or more frequently if you need to change trains.

    7. Re:Predictions for 2008 by mlush · · Score: 1

      But please remember that most europeans have access to decent public transportation... Poor gringos have to drive everywhere...

      more to the point the average European car does 43mpg and the average American one does 29 (stats from first source I found) granted some of this may be due to differences in testing but up to now fuel economy has not been a major selling point in the US market.

    8. Re:Predictions for 2008 by rchargel · · Score: 1

      Please allow a Latin-American to define this term

      Gringo: 1. (literally) A foreigner. 2. (slang) A person who cannot trace their origins to Latin-America (e.g. not Latino/Latina). 3. (slang) Less commonly, any person who cannot trace their origins to Amerindian peoples, regardless of national origin (this includes White, Black, and Asian Latinos).

      This would include Europeans (including the Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italians). While generally in Latin America the word "gringo" is used to refer to someone who is not Latin American (eg: Americans, Europeans, etc), it's also commonly used to refer to other Latin Americans who don't share the same national origin (ie: A Chilean is a 'gringo' in Argentina).

      NOTE: This word is extremely offensive, or as an American colloquialism states: "Them's be fight'n words"

    9. Re:Predictions for 2008 by Abreu · · Score: 1

      I find it strange that you define yourself as a latin-american and yet find the word "gringo" as offensive...

      And your definition is completely out of whack. A gringo is:

      1- A native of the USA.
      2- More rarely, any foreign caucasian.

      --
      No sig for the moment.
  24. Re:Wow! That was easy. by multipartmixed · · Score: 1

    That sounds about right.

    I seem to recall liquid crystal displays replacing LEDs in watches and calculators in the 1970s.

    Actually, LEDs and those super-cool bluish neon tube thingies. Not nixies, the little ones. What the hell were they called?

    --

    Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
  25. Innovation by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 1

    You confuse the ability to make unfounded claims with the ability to make an argument.

    > Which of the items on that page represent innovation, rather than purchase or copying an existing system?

    A priori, all of them. You can't prove a negative, so the burden of proof is on you to show prior art for each item.

    [ The common claim here that Microsoft doesn't innovate is usually followed by prior art for all counter examples. Of course the claim is nonetheless false, Microsoft Research (kind of equivalent to Google Labs) does lost of innovation, they are just rarely successfully commercialized. ]

    1. Re:Innovation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      A priori, all of them. You can't prove a negative, so the burden of proof is on you to show prior art for each item. Heavens, man, think! A link to "everything that Google is playing with or has thrown into the wild recently" as a proof that Google innovates is of the same order as waving in the direction of the Vatican's archives for proof that God exists. "The burden of proof is on you to show that everything there in favour of God's existence is false."

      Considering only completed projects, we have:
      1. Google Transit - any number of integrated public transport route planning services, such as Transport for London.
         
      2. GOOG-411 - search for businesses WITH MY VOICE? My goodness! Thomson Local directory? Or is the feature that I never get to speak to a human who can actually understand what I'm saying? Combining "voice recognition" with "directory enquiries" is not innovation.
         
      3. Google Reader - is an RSS reader.
         
      4. Google Notebook - TextHelp R&W.
         
      5. Google Docs - see grandparent.
         
      6. Google Video - now you're just insulting me.
         
      7. Personalized Search - browser history, stored online. Wowsers.
         
      8. iGoogle - how Google becomes like Altavista/Yahoo of the '90s without fucking up the homepage.
         
      9. Google Maps - Streetmap, Multimap, etc.
         
      10. Google Scholar - a searchable database of journals, you say? If only I'd had that in my formative years! Oh wait, I did.
         
      11. Google Desktop - BeOS? Windows Vista pre-alphas? Hell, htdig.
         
      12. Google Groups - nee dejanews, now non-usenet forum goodness. Do I really need to give prior art on "web discussion forums"?

      I'm bored now. Either you were being lazy to the point of dishonesty when you posted, or you're an idiot. Aggregation of similar databases so that they can be searched from one form is not innovation. Slapping an HTML interface on old tech is not innovation. Google is a UI company - and it does not even innovate in the UI space.
  26. ten year predictions more interesting by peter303 · · Score: 1

    Most one-year predictions are simple extrapolations of current trends, or guessing which pre-announced products will be hits. Even so they can be wrong. Subprime collapse was not in the 12/31/2006 prediction lists.

    Ten years out is a lot harder. In the late 1980s you had the feeling computer networks would be important, especially if you used them at an university. But the huge onrush in of the InterNet and browsers in 1994 was somewhat of a surprise. It was hard to foresee the quantum jump in use and that exact year.
    Ditto for internet video. There was a lot of "toy" video stuff since 2000, but the 2006 youtube rush was a surprise to me. Thta turn it from a toy into a utility.

    1. Re:ten year predictions more interesting by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 1

      ``There was a lot of "toy" video stuff since 2000, but the 2006 youtube rush was a surprise to me.''

      What wasn't a surprise, though, is that _they_ have been promising us good quality movies on demand over th Internet since at least 1994, but that promise has completely failed to deliver.

      Seriously. Why is it that we can watch movies on TV for "free" (ad or public funding supported), but if you want to do the same on the Internet, you have to jump through all kinds of hoops (pay fees, install wacky proprietary software, etc. etc.)? It's not like there is any technical problem that I can see. We have the codecs, we have the bandwidth, we even have the content and the revenue model. So why isn't it there yet?

      --
      Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
    2. Re:ten year predictions more interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      not enough dump trucks

  27. Re:Wow! That was easy. by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 1

    I found your predictions much more interesting than the ones of TFA. Yet TFA got posted to the front page of /.. Well, at least it's sparked good posts. Like yours. Well done!

    --
    Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
  28. To boldly go by oniony · · Score: 1

    Why are the 5 and 8 not bold?

    --

    Powered by onion juice.

  29. Re:Wow! That was easy. by Dr.+Zim · · Score: 1

    Vacuum Tube Florescent Displays - still my favorite

    --
    (name withheld by request)
  30. Re:Wow! That was easy. by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 1

    Al Gore? Is that you?

    All kidding aside, the technology needed for the Internet was 'invented' in 1973-1974 timeframe. The Internet, as it were, was officially rolled out in 1983.

  31. DoJ vs MS by toby · · Score: 1

    The U.S. Department of Justice will go medieval on Microsoft

    ...And we know how that turned out. Sigh.

    --
    you had me at #!
    1. Re:DoJ vs MS by Abreu · · Score: 1

      Instead of that, think that Microsoft went medieval on the US Goverment... the purchased a plenary indulgence

      --
      No sig for the moment.
  32. Re:Wow! That was easy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look closer.

    1888 != 1988

  33. Re:Wow! That was easy. by Your+Pal+Dave · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That sounds about right.
    Actually, LEDs and those super-cool bluish neon tube thingies. Not nixies, the little ones. What the hell were they called? Probably early vacuum fluorescent displays (VFD). I built a digital clock kit back in the '70s using them, they came as individual 7 segment displays packaged in what looked like small vacuum tubes with long solder leads.
  34. Re:Why modded Troll? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but it's hardy the mess that I've seen on Digg

    You must be one of those editors :-)

  35. The good old days weren't... by Cid+Highwind · · Score: 1

    Clearly, he doesn't remember the Slashdot of 1998.

    --
    0 1 - just my two bits
  36. Postdiction... by A+New+Normalcy · · Score: 1

    ...the first neologism for 2008. (or is it a PORTMANteau?)

    --
    ...Lorenzo / I'm into kinky crustaceans. I just discovered internet praWn.
  37. 2008 predictions - no nukes in IRAQ, again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    George Bush will try to use Nukes in Iraq AGAIN, be denied, not resign like Nixon, and no one will care. He will go down in history as the worst US president, even over those sickly ones who did nothing their entire term.

    Nothing much business as usual for 1988...er 2008... oh first major open source (android) phone gets released and kids start writing games on their phones at school.

  38. Re:Wow! That was easy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes but it happened before y2k was solved !
    So only the last two digits were significant.

  39. Re:Why modded Troll? by darnoKonrad · · Score: 1

    What sucks about digg is the moderation is up or down. Still worse, if you mod someone down, they disappear from your interface. Just because I think you're wrong or misguided doesn't mean I think your comment should be removed. It's a moderation system that creates an echo chamber. It is a mess over there.

  40. UKians are crazy. by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    They think it is OK to live in Manchester and commute to London to work.

    In many places in Europe most people live in the same town where they work, thus they rely in local transport that is far more predictable than trains (well, UK trains, trains in most other places run punctual, but hey, the friends of Margaret Thatcher made a real killing when they sold their shares in the privatized train companies. A real gravy train if there ever was one) and much faster than cars.

    The UK has a love affair with cars that is not dissimilar with the US's.

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.