Bonum Certa Men Certa

Oracle Gates

"In the decade ahead I can predict that we will provide over twice the productivity improvement that we provided in the '90s."

--Bill Gates



"Like almost everyone who uses e-mail, I receive a ton of spam every day. Much of it offers to help me get out of debt or get rich quick. It would be funny if it weren't so irritating."

--Bill Gates



Summary: A look back at nonsensical predictions and lack of foresight from Microsoft's Nostradamus

"Since this is from the BBC," says a reader of ours, "there's no need for a URL, a better citation can be found instead. It's another quote for the Bill Gates as Visionary file: "Although Bill Gates announced the tablet concept at Comdex in November 2001, saying that "within five years I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America." Instead the format flopped, constituting less than 1% of sales in 2009."



"It's right up there with the open letter to computer hobbyists rant and the end of spam prediction," says our reader. In 2004, Bill Gates said that "spam will be a thing of the past in two years’ time." To a large degree, spam is the fault of Microsoft. In 1993, Bill Gates said: "The Internet? We are not interested in it." And yet, the BBC -- with its infinite shamelessness -- portrays Gates as though he's among the fathers of the Web. Microsoft is good at lying and getting the press to lie along.

Our reader Marti has just shown us this new tablet that combines Windows and Linux.

X2 Technology has capitalised on Apple's decision not to call its tablet the iTablet. Its X2 iTablet will run Windows or Linux and support Flash.


It's not the first Windows-Linux tablet of this kind. iPad is hardly the product to beat not just because it's customer-hostile but also because it's technically inferior. There's still doubt about the future of this form factor, which lacks a proper keyboard to begin with.

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