MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Ballmer: In 10 years all media will be delivered digitally

vivaldirules · 06-07-2008, 08:22 PM

"There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form."

Does no one else think Ballmer's on drugs - again? Digitally-delivered words may be much more common in 10 years but this is like predicting we'll have flying cars in a few more years. It's just not practical for everyone to have a digital device to read content with. If I'm at the grocery store and want to buy a magazine and don't have my latest Sony Reader (or whatever) with me, how am I going to buy it? Do you think they won't have any for sale? If I don't have a PC (plenty of real people don't have their own and won't 10 years from now), how do I buy a book? Do you think everyone will have Kindles (or the equivalent)? I doubt it. If I buy gasoline and want to run in and buy a copy of the newspaper, do you think they won't have one for sale? Of course they will.

And what about (dare I ask?) DRM and the protection of intellectual property and the multiplicity of hardware devices and digital formats? Does anyone think those problems will somehow evaporate allowing for the great proliferation of digital words?

I think there will be plenty of old-fashioned books, magazines, and newspapers 10 years from now (unless we're all under water by then or caught up in some other crisis).

06-07-2008, 08:22 PM	#9
vivaldirules When's Doughnut Day? Posts: 10,059 Karma: 13675475 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Houston, TX, US Device: Sony PRS-505, iPad	"There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form." Does no one else think Ballmer's on drugs - again? Digitally-delivered words may be much more common in 10 years but this is like predicting we'll have flying cars in a few more years. It's just not practical for everyone to have a digital device to read content with. If I'm at the grocery store and want to buy a magazine and don't have my latest Sony Reader (or whatever) with me, how am I going to buy it? Do you think they won't have any for sale? If I don't have a PC (plenty of real people don't have their own and won't 10 years from now), how do I buy a book? Do you think everyone will have Kindles (or the equivalent)? I doubt it. If I buy gasoline and want to run in and buy a copy of the newspaper, do you think they won't have one for sale? Of course they will. And what about (dare I ask?) DRM and the protection of intellectual property and the multiplicity of hardware devices and digital formats? Does anyone think those problems will somehow evaporate allowing for the great proliferation of digital words? I think there will be plenty of old-fashioned books, magazines, and newspapers 10 years from now (unless we're all under water by then or caught up in some other crisis).