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Of course Bill hates it, he never got it, he never really got the internet. His vision was a home PC on every desk. "Peer to Peer? Free Software? How will we ev

Of course Bill hates it, he never got it, he never really got the internet. His vision was a home PC on every desk. "Peer to Peer? Free Software? How will we ever charge licensing on that?"

Hydraulix989 6y ago
Bill wrote the book "The Road Ahead" in the 90s. It heavily references an Information Superhighway and widespread PDA use (aka the modern Internet and smartphones). The book even predicts a future digital wallet based payment system.
- jdsully 6y ago
  The book was written without mentioning the internet at all. He famously had to go back and add in the internet parts after it was already a sure thing. '95 was still early, but back then techies weren't ready to give BillG the benefit the doubt about anything. > After the book was written, but before it hit bookstores, Gates recognized that the Internet was gaining critical mass, and on December 7, 1995 — just weeks after the release of the book — he redirected Microsoft to become an Internet-focused company; in retrospect he had "vastly underestimated how important and how quickly the internet would come to prominence".[3] Then he and coauthor Rinearson spent several months revising the book, making it 20,000 words longer and focused on the Internet.[citation needed] The revised edition was published in October 1996 as a trade paperback,[6] with the subtitle "Completely revised and up-to-date.".[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_(Gates_book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_(Gates_book)
  - Hydraulix989 6y ago
    Correct, it mentioned the Information Superhighway instead; that was the revision. I have and read the first (hardback) edition, and still feel it is sufficiently foretelling. I encourage you to verify this for yourself because the [citation needed] here is telling!
duxup 6y ago
Does that relate to Bitcoin?
threatofrain 6y ago
Bill Gates is making the argument that Bitcoin's speculative value outweighs its moral efficacy as an investment vehicle. I think it's a fair argument whether or not he "understands" the internet.
keyanp 6y ago
I don't agree. I just watched a talk from Gates in 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsonKu4STzM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsonKu4STzM I thought it was totally wild how much he predicted correctly, e.g. personalized ads, big data analytics, internet of things, increased pervasiveness of screens throughout life, explosion in phone ownership, smart mirrors. Some of that stuff was obvious by 2008, but his vision was always miles ahead in my opinion.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- AntiImperialist 6y ago
  >smart mirrors Where are those? >personalized ads, big data analytics, internet of things, increased pervasiveness of screens throughout life, explosion in phone ownership, You mean the kinds of things that were already happening for a decade by 2008? I predict in 2021 that Tiktok will be the biggest app.
bawolff 6y ago
Underestimate the importance of the world wide web (different from the internet) once in the early 90s, and the entire world will never let you forget it.
hertzrat 6y ago
You can’t dismiss somebody’s opinions because of the mind reading you did about their subconscious motives

Of course Bill hates it, he never got it, he never really got the internet. His vision was a home PC on every desk. "Peer to Peer? Free Software? How will we ever charge licensing on that?"

Hydraulix989 6y ago

Bill wrote the book "The Road Ahead" in the 90s. It heavily references an Information Superhighway and widespread PDA use (aka the modern Internet and smartphones). The book even predicts a future digital wallet based payment system.

jdsully 6y ago
The book was written without mentioning the internet at all. He famously had to go back and add in the internet parts after it was already a sure thing. '95 was still early, but back then techies weren't ready to give BillG the benefit the doubt about anything. > After the book was written, but before it hit bookstores, Gates recognized that the Internet was gaining critical mass, and on December 7, 1995 — just weeks after the release of the book — he redirected Microsoft to become an Internet-focused company; in retrospect he had "vastly underestimated how important and how quickly the internet would come to prominence".[3] Then he and coauthor Rinearson spent several months revising the book, making it 20,000 words longer and focused on the Internet.[citation needed] The revised edition was published in October 1996 as a trade paperback,[6] with the subtitle "Completely revised and up-to-date.".[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_(Gates_book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_(Gates_book)
- Hydraulix989 6y ago
  Correct, it mentioned the Information Superhighway instead; that was the revision. I have and read the first (hardback) edition, and still feel it is sufficiently foretelling. I encourage you to verify this for yourself because the [citation needed] here is telling!

duxup 6y ago

Does that relate to Bitcoin?

threatofrain 6y ago

Bill Gates is making the argument that Bitcoin's speculative value outweighs its moral efficacy as an investment vehicle. I think it's a fair argument whether or not he "understands" the internet.

keyanp 6y ago

I don't agree. I just watched a talk from Gates in 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsonKu4STzM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsonKu4STzM I thought it was totally wild how much he predicted correctly, e.g. personalized ads, big data analytics, internet of things, increased pervasiveness of screens throughout life, explosion in phone ownership, smart mirrors. Some of that stuff was obvious by 2008, but his vision was always miles ahead in my opinion.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
AntiImperialist 6y ago
>smart mirrors Where are those? >personalized ads, big data analytics, internet of things, increased pervasiveness of screens throughout life, explosion in phone ownership, You mean the kinds of things that were already happening for a decade by 2008? I predict in 2021 that Tiktok will be the biggest app.

bawolff 6y ago

Underestimate the importance of the world wide web (different from the internet) once in the early 90s, and the entire world will never let you forget it.

hertzrat 6y ago

You can’t dismiss somebody’s opinions because of the mind reading you did about their subconscious motives