Microsoft Predictions on Future Technology from 1999

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Microsoft has not been associated as being a leader in cutting edge technology lately, but back in the 90’s, Microsoft seemed to have a firm grasp of what the future of technology would look like. The big question here is why didn't Microsoft act on any of these predictions and bring them to market?
 
MajorDomo said:
The big question here is why didn't Microsoft act on any of these predictions and bring them to market?
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I'm wondering why they hired someone who can't pronounce 'Microsoft' to open a video about Microsoft's future... Poor planning and decision making seems to be a core value at Microsoft.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
I'm wondering why they hired someone who can't pronounce 'Microsoft' to open a video about Microsoft's future... Poor planning and decision making seems to be a core value at Microsoft.
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When they screen faded to black, they should have had a buzzing noise and the woman say "Ohhh Bob"! Then put the Microsoft Bob logo up.
 
Even though this was 15 years ago, we're just at the beginning of the commercialization of the Internet of Things which is what this would be called today using the latest buzzwords.
 
Smartphones didn't exist in the future, we must be living in an alternate universe.
 
That little girl's pocket PC looked to be torture to carry around. I mean, even to get it out to take a quick glampse at it was an effort.
 
Would like to see a parody of this video like the guy getting into a fatal car crash answering the phone, pop-up ads, creepy stalkers, ect ect....:D
 
I think the only thing on that video which isn't an off the shelf product is the retina scanner. All the rest we have today and have had for quite some time.
 
S-F said:
I think the only thing on that video which isn't an off the shelf product is the retina scanner. All the rest we have today and have had for quite some time.
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Where is this trash can that automatically itemizes what I'm throwing away?
 
heatlesssun said:
Even though this was 15 years ago, we're just at the beginning of the commercialization of the Internet of Things which is what this would be called today using the latest buzzwords.
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The internet of things evolved from X10 and Zwave type systems getting a boost from low power processors running linux in controllers and add in a recent mix of successful mobile devices providing a more accessible interface supported mildly by custom clouds. Although somewhat prescient, Microsoft had nothing to do with any of the above.

Imagine predicting the next thing, but being to constipated as an organization to participate in it.
 
Yada, yada, yada, "Insert Anti Microsoft Comment here", yada yada yada. /thread
 
article choice of words not great?

While the bulky 90s products, like a cell phone that looks more like a Game Boy, have since rendered themselves obsolete
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My galaxy S3 is as big as a gameboy. In the days when nokia was king phones did genuinly get small, like my nokia 6420, but today they bulky again.
 
I also disagree with this.

What the company got wrong in the video is creating most of its products around the PC, and ignoring mobile.
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The PC isnt a dead technology yet the media acts as if its weird to develop for it.

Microsoft dominates the PC market which is 100s of millions of PC's worldwide, yet they should instead go with their tiny mobile market share?
 
S-F said:
I think the only thing on that video which isn't an off the shelf product is the retina scanner. All the rest we have today and have had for quite some time.
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actualy best buy currently sells a retina scanner along side the security cameras and internet connected lightbulbs. the smart trashcan on the other hand...
 
My house has some of this tech in it - but not enough. I want a true smart home that can turn the lights off when no one is in a room (not just a motion sensor. These kind of work, but never the best).
I bet we are looking at another 15-20 years before devices are better integrated and actually work reliably.
 
That is the one sad thing about this house Microsoft has. They do all this cool stuff but then never really push to do much with it other than trying to guess what others will do

Everything they do in the house of tomorrow always looks very interesting.

Here is a 2011 tour
http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/CampusTours/Microsoft-Campus-Tours-The-Microsoft-Home

Can't find anything newer since that isn't something they just let the public into.
 
dr_drift said:
That little girl's pocket PC looked to be torture to carry around. I mean, even to get it out to take a quick glampse at it was an effort.
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Actually that reminded me of my note 3.

And so much touching not enough voice also the panel at the door so wasteful. TV so small and square. The kitchen pc so big and beige.
 
Love the stereotyping: the girl plays music and dashes off to watch cartoons, the boy has glasses and is in to science...

And yeah, most of the individual items have been available for some time, with even some full-house integration available, it has been *VERY* expensive to do the full package. (Although from the look of that family's car/large house/big TV/etc, they would be able to afford it.) It's only all now becoming available at a reasonable price. (I remember seeing a "connected smart home" demo at the 2001 "Street of Dreams" home show, sponsored by Intel and Microsoft, of course, where most of this was actually implemented for real. It was clunky, but it worked.)
 
and yet 95% of homes in the usa still arent connected like this.

i think for a lot of people simple light switches and dials are still dumb enough for the dumb(m)asses in todays society

i thought the little girl was pulling out a gameboy, i was like daannng thats huge.
i love vintage hardware vids like this though, it brings a tear to my eye knowing i lived through all that and enjoyed most of it at that time.
 
TorxT3D said:
and yet 95% of homes in the usa still arent connected like this.

i think for a lot of people simple light switches and dials are still dumb enough for the dumb(m)asses in todays society

i thought the little girl was pulling out a gameboy, i was like daannng thats huge.
i love vintage hardware vids like this though, it brings a tear to my eye knowing i lived through all that and enjoyed most of it at that time.
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My house still has switches made of bake lite and flip with a loud clunk. And most of my outlets are 2 prong...
 
Lunas said:
My house still has switches made of bake lite and flip with a loud clunk. And most of my outlets are 2 prong...
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That is a bit much, you should upgrade that crap if you are not renting.

On topic.. none of this will be.. even though now there is more tech available that makes sense (unlike the video), the margins for houses are low to begin with.. adding all this crap will only make things cost more, adding little to no more margin.
 
Uvaman said:
That is a bit much, you should upgrade that crap if you are not renting.

On topic.. none of this will be.. even though now there is more tech available that makes sense (unlike the video), the margins for houses are low to begin with.. adding all this crap will only make things cost more, adding little to no more margin.
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Eh. It's still firmly in hobby territory. But gaining traction.
 
niconx said:
Smartphones didn't exist in the future, we must be living in an alternate universe.
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It was still a little early. in 1999, you had a couple of Nokia phones that were kind of smart, a Qualcomm that looked like a clamshell phone ate a palm pilot (didn't actually sell until 2000) and even PocketPC smartphones didn't start to sell until 2000.
 
chrcoluk said:
I also disagree with this.



The PC isnt a dead technology yet the media acts as if its weird to develop for it.

Microsoft dominates the PC market which is 100s of millions of PC's worldwide, yet they should instead go with their tiny mobile market share?
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No, the point was, they could have owned that too if they weren't so distracted by making a phone OS work like windows. It wasn't the internet that destroyed Microsoft's dominance it was their protection of Windows/Office at all costs that hurt them. It didn't matter what it was, if it didn't have anything to do with the cash cows they either ignored it, or infighting made sure it didn't see the light of day.
 
Ryokurin said:
No, the point was, they could have owned that too if they weren't so distracted by making a phone OS work like windows. It wasn't the internet that destroyed Microsoft's dominance it was their protection of Windows/Office at all costs that hurt them. It didn't matter what it was, if it didn't have anything to do with the cash cows they either ignored it, or infighting made sure it didn't see the light of day.
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Nothing has "destroyed" Microsoft's dominance in the things it's been dominate in like the desktop and the enterprise, Microsoft is still about a strong in those markets as ever. The thing that Microsoft missed was mobile devices. Phones will probably always been an area where Microsoft remains weak. I think they have much better prospects in the tablet space. Though they've had to make Windows free in the low cost tablet market, Windows seems to be gaining some traction there. The next emerging mobile market, wearables, Microsoft seems to be carving out a targeted role in the area of health monitoring. But wearables so far is a pretty tough market to crack. Apple will probably be the only one with a substantial business there but as the market moves to ever cheaper devices even Apple might have a difficult time growing in that area.
 
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