...And how well do you think each will be faring? Also, anyone have guesses as to what computer hardware will be like then? I'm curious to see everyone's opinion on this. Drastically different, that's for sure. In 25 more years, it'll be 2034. My predictions:
Storage will be massive by today's standards. In the 2030's, the petabyte will be as common as the gigabyte is today. As for what form this would take (spinning platters, solid-state, etc.,) I can't say, but it will be both ubiquitous and very cheap. Computer memory (RAM) will likewise be gigantic, and I'd say by 2034, the cheapest computers will ship with at least 128 or even 256GB of RAM.
Much is being made over increasingly common "cloud storage", where users don't care where the data is as long as it pops up when they push a button. I'm guessing that this will be "experimented" with for a while, but in general, most users will still prefer to keep their own data stored on their own hardware. That's something that hasn't changed in 40+ years, so I see no reason for it to ever change at all.
The Internet will be drastically different. Maybe even replaced by something else? But whatever it is like or what it will be called, it'll be FAST and POWERFUL. The companies we now call "wireless carriers" will be dumb pipes, only thing differentiating them is if their 50 TBPS service is available in your area.
As for Microsoft and Apple, a few things: In 2034, Microsoft will still be around, but will be of almost no importance. I can see a scenario similar to IBM's dominance of the 1980's, which eventually disappeared. IBM now tinkers quietly in a corner, manufacturing ugly gray point-of-sale terminals, but is no longer a formidable monster.
Apple in 2034 will still have a small market share, the rest of which will, at that time, be hogged by the next giant, greedy software/hardware corporation that comes along. Apple, in my estimation, will have a 20% market share then, but the dissidents will still be saying the same things: "Macs are too expensive...you can get a Buy-N-Large PC with 256 gigs of RAM for $1.5 million, but a Mac with less RAM is nearly $4 million!" (Did I mention that inflation will probably be pretty bad?)
And Linux? Who knows? I'd say same as now: small market share, but extremely common on servers.
Anyway, just my opinion...what do you guys think?
Storage will be massive by today's standards. In the 2030's, the petabyte will be as common as the gigabyte is today. As for what form this would take (spinning platters, solid-state, etc.,) I can't say, but it will be both ubiquitous and very cheap. Computer memory (RAM) will likewise be gigantic, and I'd say by 2034, the cheapest computers will ship with at least 128 or even 256GB of RAM.
Much is being made over increasingly common "cloud storage", where users don't care where the data is as long as it pops up when they push a button. I'm guessing that this will be "experimented" with for a while, but in general, most users will still prefer to keep their own data stored on their own hardware. That's something that hasn't changed in 40+ years, so I see no reason for it to ever change at all.
The Internet will be drastically different. Maybe even replaced by something else? But whatever it is like or what it will be called, it'll be FAST and POWERFUL. The companies we now call "wireless carriers" will be dumb pipes, only thing differentiating them is if their 50 TBPS service is available in your area.
As for Microsoft and Apple, a few things: In 2034, Microsoft will still be around, but will be of almost no importance. I can see a scenario similar to IBM's dominance of the 1980's, which eventually disappeared. IBM now tinkers quietly in a corner, manufacturing ugly gray point-of-sale terminals, but is no longer a formidable monster.
Apple in 2034 will still have a small market share, the rest of which will, at that time, be hogged by the next giant, greedy software/hardware corporation that comes along. Apple, in my estimation, will have a 20% market share then, but the dissidents will still be saying the same things: "Macs are too expensive...you can get a Buy-N-Large PC with 256 gigs of RAM for $1.5 million, but a Mac with less RAM is nearly $4 million!" (Did I mention that inflation will probably be pretty bad?)
And Linux? Who knows? I'd say same as now: small market share, but extremely common on servers.
Anyway, just my opinion...what do you guys think?
