Haven’t we all been there? We have all been promised by teachers, colleagues or public speakers that this or that was about to be the next big thing in tech that would change the world as we know it.
Well, sometimes, they could not have been more wrong. And looking back now, it makes us smile and also glad that we didn’t spend a fortune on hardware that never made it. Have fun reading what things have been promised to us being the next big thing!
“More than a decade ago, zoom-in scene. Some presenter in a Microsoft conference showing the new drag and drop editor that created fully functioning screen in less than 5 minutes.
"This will be the future of software development. No coding is required!" they said.
Thankfully it didn’t make it. Or I would have not been hired and write this comment.”
When I started my 2 year course in .NET web development back in 2008, they just added Silverlight to the curriculum because that was going to be a big thing.
... Windows phone (and its development) in slightly modified silverlight/xaml/mvvm pattern... And oh the metro ui and tiles!
In 2005 I had to attend a Microsoft BizTalk training because "it is going to be the next big thing". I still don't see it rule the world...
Reverse next big thing for me. In 1996, Bill Gates confidently told everyone that the internet wouldn't be the next big thing. Within a few months, he'd completely changed his mind.
In the late 90s I was spending a lot of my time on this cool website called LissaExplains. My middle school teachers thought I was wasting my time learning this thing called HTML...
I also remember Google Glass supposedly being the Next Great Thing. Well that didn’t quite work out, I’m sorry for the one guy I once saw at a co-working space in Vienna who had the misfortune of spending a fortune on them.
Remember Second Life? That’s the next big thing!
MDA - model driven applications. You configure a model as part of an application, click 'apply' and BOOOM your application is ready to use. Without a single line of code!
Sharepoint. Solves all your problems (It's even the perfect backend for hosting a chat application!)
I can remember once a colleague entered my room showing me a book about windows mobile development. Daniel, you should learn this, that's the future, you could earn a lot of money selling apps!
Well...
It was the year 2012 and I was about to get my diploma - and they would tell us to all learn about VR because television and cinema will die and we will all run around with our oculus rifts and the way we consume media is going to be completely different!
Well, 10 years later, I am still waiting for it to happen.
Back in 2014 Google was working on project ARA, a smartphone with modular hardware. They thought that would be the next big thing since you could choose exactly what kind of hardware you wanted in your phone and upgrade it when it became outdated. I haven't heard anything about this project since.
I did a bet with the CTO of the company I used to work for. He was convinced that in the year 2019 indoor navigation was the next big thing. Every company would implement indoor navigation. He lost the bet.
In the year 2000 I had a talk with a good friend. I thought it would be great to have an additional communication channel beside chat and point to point to friends. Something to publish your current location, a status like "feeling sad" or "would love to go for a beer today" paired with event organization for example organizing a picnic. My friend said "nobody needs that stuff".
Basically it was Facebook.
Looking back a few years reminds us that the future of technology is — to some extent — unpredictable. But in the end, that’s also what makes it so interesting, isn’t it? It’s what keeps our jobs diversified and is forcing us to never stop learning and evolving. For us, working in tech will never get boring, that’s for sure.
Additionally, even if there is no use for some language or framework we learned a few years ago — don’t forget that nothing you will learn is ever useless. In this spirit: RIP flash and all you banners I once created!
