Looking back at 2018 predictions, Bob was somehow 70 percent correct

I can’t put this off any longer, so here are the tech predictions I made a year ago for 2018. We have to see how well or poorly I did before we can move on to my predictions for 2019 and beyond. These old predictions have been edited for length, but not to avoid embarrassment.

I try to never avoid embarrassment.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that my predictions get longer and longer (this column, alone, is 4329 words — my second longest, ever) as they have drifted from new products to explaining new strategies. This sometimes works against the prediction since it is often easier to […]

By |February 19th, 2019|2019, Predictions|59 Comments
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Two thirds done, yet still writing predictions…

I was born 66 years ago today, which makes me old enough to know better, though some might disagree. Sixty-six is retirement age in the U.S. Social Security system and I am all signed-up. Retirement has been beckoning a bit, which might explain my recent absence from this rag. But no, I’m not retired at all and that means I owe you something of an update, plus of course my predictions for 2019.

First the Mineserver jihad. I’ve been quietly trying to find an investor to help revive this great little business started with my three sons but lost to my blindness last year combined with the Tubbs fire that cost us […]

By |January 28th, 2019|2019, Family, Predictions, Startups|184 Comments
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Apple knows 5G is about infrastructure, NOT mobile phones

With Apple shares down more than 20 percent from their all-time highs of only a few weeks ago, writers are piling-on about what’s wrong in Cupertino. But sometimes writers looking for a story don’t fully understand what they are talking about. And that seems to me to be the case with complaints that Apple is too far behind in adopting 5G networking technology in future iPhones. For all the legitimate stories about how Apple should have done this or that, 5G doesn’t belong on the list. And that’s because 5G isn’t really about mobile phones at all.

Just to get this out of the way, I see Apple […]

By |November 21st, 2018|2018, competition, mobile technology, strategy, Technology, Television|148 Comments
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Red Hat takes over IBM

So IBM is buying Red Hat (home of the largest Enterprise Linux distribution) for $34 billion and readers want to know what I think of the deal. Well, if I made a list of acquisitions and things to do to save IBM, buying Red Hat would have been very close to the top of that list.  They should have bought Red Hat 10 years ago when the stock market was in the gutter. 

Jumping the gun a bit, I have to say the bigger question is really which company’s culture will ultimately dominate? I’m hoping it’s Red Hat.

The deal is a good fit for many reasons explained below. And […]

By |October 29th, 2018|2018, Business, Companies, strategy|130 Comments
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Remembering Paul Allen

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen died yesterday at age 65. His cause of death was Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, the same disease that nearly killed him back in 1983. Allen, who was every bit as important to the history of the personal computer as Bill Gates, had found an extra 35 years of life back then thanks to a bone marrow transplant. And from the outside looking-in, I’d say he made great use of those 35 extra years.

Of all the early PC guys, Allen was probably the most reclusive. Following his departure from Microsoft in 1983 I met him only four times. But prior to his illness Allen had been a major factor […]

By |October 16th, 2018|2018, history, People, Uncategorized|71 Comments
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