The equivalent to Skype, 15 years ago, was...

[Stat Brother]

...A fax machine .

****WARNING OLD MAN THREAD****

What the fook is going to be the equivalent of Skype in 15 years time?.

I've just read an interview with 2 prominent Aussie cyclists, coming to the end of their careers.
Both starting out in Europe in the late '90's, were asked the question what's changed?
The both stated communication, saying how pleased they were to be able to buy their families fax machines, so they could stay in touch, easier than weekly letters.

So what's it to be in 2030?

 

[skipper734]

I know New Zealand is supposed to be 50 years behind the UK, it would appear Australia is as well if that's their best communication device in the late 90's.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

The " beam me up Scotty " machine is only a few years away.

 

[Pinkie Brown]

The same in Canada. I couldn't believe how widely Fax Machines were still used.

MSN Messenger seems old hat now.

 

[skipper734]

I think the current available technology will still be broadly similar in the future. There will be refinements, WiFi, 4g will become dominant for phones tablets and other portable and static devices. Your tablet equivalent will be flat, it's size will be limited by the 7 times you can fold it.
The Greens will be complaining about the view from the seafront which is dominated by a vast forest of wind turbines.

 

[Finch]

Not sure where the 50 years behind the UK thing comes from. Pretty sure I was using e-mail in the late 90's (as in I know I was, because I had a uni account).

 

[Gwylan]

Not sure where the 50 years behind the UK thing comes from. Pretty sure I was using e-mail in the late 90's (as in I know I was, because I had a uni account).

It's from the old joke "This is the pilot speaking. We've now landed at Wellington, please put your watches back 50 years"

Faxes were on their way out 15 years ago: email had been my primary form of communication for about six years by 1997. And email was certainly widely used in Oz and NZ - I used to be in regular contact with the Bastard Operator from Hell in Waikato.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

I do remember when a fax machine arrived at where I was working ............ it does what ?

 

[Gwylan]

I do remember when fax machines were really expensive and a company I was working for was too tight to buy one. It used to ring up various suppliers, get a machine in on a two week trial and then say "no, we're not ready", while lining up the next supplier and going through the same process again. It did this for about a year (might even have been longer, I'd left by then)

 

[Trufflehound]

Fax machines are still widely used in some circles.

The hotel website booking.com may look like a fully automated internet system to the user, but part of the chain is them sending a booking confirmation to the hotels via convetional fax, as they say this is a more secure way of transmitting a third party's credit card details than via email.

The hotel I'm involved with had to go on a tiresome hunt to track down an old fax machine last year just so we could take guests via their site.

Other hotel booking sites just use email.

 

[halbpro]

I don't think we'll shift away from Skype, or an equivalent, until full virtual reality comes about. The way that it's now getting built into TVs and the growing support for 720p webcams suggests to me that they've got a long term plan. Hardware will improve, and within a few years it looks like research into displays on contact lenses will have come to fruition.

Of course 15 years is such a long time that it's hard to predict. Maybe we'll do something odd with quantum spin to allow for instantaneous communication with zero lag. Or, of course, we could all be wiped out by an asteroid or flu or global warming or apes with augmented intelligence. Those damned dirty apes!

 

[NMH]

Travel has to change.
There will be a revolution in electrically powered transport - battery cars will get you to work, going on special tube-line motorways. You get to the entryway where you can then preset your destination. Everyone will travel on these ways at the same speed, and there is no chance of collisions.

No credit cards - your retina will be your chip and pin.

All communications, television, reading, listening to music, phone calls and business conferences will be conducted on your headset, where the 'glasses' will project virtual 3D imaging for all interactions and entertainment.

Then there's sex;
[yt]Isrd7E5nzIQ[/yt]

 

[Common as Mook]

I did a bit of work for a large global bank recently. A lot of internal comms are still done via fax

 

[Gwylan]

Travel has to change.
There will be a revolution in electrically powered transport - battery cars will get you to work, going on special tube-line motorways.

I don't know about technology but I certainly predict that far fewer of us will be going to work (as it's understood now). The days of the 9 to 5, 5 days a week are coming to an end

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Travel has to change.

I would say travel would be much less - especially for working. I would think "working from home" would be more or less the norm for all office based jobs. We have two people in our office that I've not yet met in the 18 months I've been here as they work from home permanently now.

We were certainly using email by the late 90s - when I started a job in '95 it was in use then.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

What?! You mean my telex no longer works?

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

i'd like to be able to instantly find my stuff when i lose it around the house

 

[Kumquat]

Where are the Jetpacks? They promised us jetpacks.

 

[NMH]

I don't know about technology but I certainly predict that far fewer of us will be going to work (as it's understood now). The days of the 9 to 5, 5 days a week are coming to an end

The subject of this thread is technology, which has reduced the need for humans in industry.
Taking into account the influx of women into the workplace since the 1950's, and you can understand how jobs are fewer and for more people.

 

[JetsetJimbo]

Where are the Jetpacks? They promised us jetpacks.

If movies have taught me anything, it's that we're going to have hover boards in three years time. Back to the Future 2 clearly showed them using hover boards in space year 2015. I can't wait.