The Internet is now in the middle of a transition to a full consumer network. Nobody planned it. It’s thoroughly out of control. And that’s a good thing.
Predictor: Andreessen, Marc
Prediction, in context:The following is a paraphrase of remarks by Marc Andreessen that was included in a 1994 article by Knight-Ridder News Service reporter David Bank for The (Bergen) Record: ”Andreessen convinced Clark that it is the personal computer and the Internet, not television, that will bring the information superhighway into millions of American homes. Now Clark, a bespectacled wine connoisseur, is betting a chunk of his personal fortune on Andreessen, a tall junk-food lover … Andreessen’s mandate is to develop an upgraded, commercial version of Mosaic that will help turn the Internet into a popular mass-market medium. The success of that effort will move the Internet even further away from its roots as a virtually free, egalitarian network without commercial content. In the future, information consumers and information providers will both pay for network use. ‘The Internet is now in the middle of a transition to a full consumer network,’ Andreessen said. ‘Nobody planned it. It’s thoroughly out of control. And that’s a good thing.'”
Biography:Marc Andreessen worked with Eric Bina at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in 1992, to develop a browser that would be usable on any computer, easy to use and graphically rich. In 1993, their browser, Mosaic, completely changed the face of the Internet 脨 it allowed HTML “image” tags which make it so text and art can appear on the same page; it allowed easy text scrolling; and it introduced hyperlinks, allowing users to simply click on an area of the screen to go to another document on the Internet. In1994, Mosaic was developed and marketed; the product eventually was named Netscape. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Role of Govt./Industry
Name of publication: Record
Title, headline, chapter name: Mosaic Whiz Kid on Superhighway; He’s Young, Gifted, and a Hack
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Allen, Patrick J.