That 2003 article claiming nobody would ever stream video online

I was cleaning out a box of old computer magazines from my parents' attic in Cleveland and found a 2003 PC World article saying streaming video was a doomed fad because nobody had the bandwidth. The guy literally wrote "people will never want to watch grainy, choppy video on a monitor when they have a TV." Makes me wonder what current tech we're all laughing at that'll be totally normal in 20 years.

2 comments

2 Comments

anthony98912d ago

Grab that article and laugh at it, because the whole thing aged like milk left in a hot car. Streaming video is literally how most people watch TV now, you know, even my grandma uses Netflix. The guy was dead wrong about bandwidth too, most folks have fiber or cable that can handle 4K without breaking a sweat. What really gets me is how they thought a computer monitor was just for work, not for binging shows for hours on end. It makes you wonder what we're totally wrong about today, like maybe VR headsets or self-driving cars that everyone jokes about.

sullivan.elliot12d ago

Not all those articles aged poorly though. There was a chunk about how streaming would kill physical media, and that one actually held up pretty well. You can barely find a Bluray player in a big box store these days. But the bandwidth part cracks me up, especially since some rural areas still struggle to stream in 720p, so that guy wasn't totally off base for a big chunk of the country. I bet the same thing is happening with self driving cars right now, people in cities with good infrastructure think they are right around the corner, but half the country is still waiting for decent roads.