At this time of year, we often reflect on the lessons we have - hopefully - learnt in the preceding year and ponder what lies ahead for us in the next 12 months. Since only hindsight has 20 x 20 vision, let’s take what can only be described as an educated pop at guessing what will happen in 2007.
In no particular order then, here are the big predictions.
School leavers - Literacy in the UK takes a further knock when Higher texting appears on the secondary school curriculum. Wkd or wot?
Qualifications - 2007 sees the beginning of a major shift away from paper credentials and the ‘what you know’ culture of education. The emphasis now switches to what you can find out online and repackage into a commercial commodity. Brain surgery remains one of the many bastions that hold out against this tide.
Convergence - More and more devices and functionality will converge into a single all purpose handset. Most new white goods will be broadband-enabled. There will be no escape from the net. We just won’t notice it pervading everything we touch because it’s wireless.
Cars – Broadband-enabled cars will become mainstream. Newer models will synchronise with the passengers’ laptop and desktop machines. Car dealers will howl in protest when business from new car owners dwindles because vehicles update and diagnose themselves automatically on the fly. Millions of cars will be infected by a new strain of computer virus that prevents them from being started. Green activists are the prime suspects in the hunt for the authors of these new viruses.
Aliens - Unbeknown to us, first contact will be a one-sided affair. Life from another planet discovers it’s simpler – and cheaper - to learn about planet Earth by tapping into the internet rather than travelling thousands of light years to get here. Their web site gets millions of hits per month but no-one has a clue about their true identity. They are only rumbled after a string of bad transactions on eBay.
Eadar-lion – The first Gaelic language ISP appears. It’s based in the Highlands and Islands and becomes a focal point for the Gaidhealtach Diaspora. A dispute breaks out over the correct spelling of the ISP’s name.
Power struggle - Google and Microsoft continue to go head to head for supremacy throughout 2007. It’s a bruising contest that’s too close to call. They inflict major damage upon one another, allowing a consortium of other players to sneak in and grab the major prizes. Or something like that…
Virtual reality - Banks and a string of other institutions scale down their offline presence. Suddenly, it becomes very difficult to exist and do a multitude of everyday tasks without having internet access.
Other good guesses - Google will launch its own operating system to rival Windows. Someone on youtube.com will land themselves a Hollywood movie deal on the strength of their online video contributions. eBay and AOL will be the subject of takeovers.
