Recently, Dewy Abramovich (JURICA DUJMOVIC), the columnist of MarketWatch, published a technology new on its website, reviewed the products, concepts and services that for the advances in technology, have already disappeared in 2014, or are sure of disappearing in the future.
The review article from Dewy Abramovich is following:
These last 12 months were a very good year for modern technology.
Many advancements, especially in health care, agriculture, robotics and privacy, were made, serving as a foundation for more improvements to come. A lot can be said about high-tech devices and gadgets that sprang to life in 2014.
However, this year wasn’t successful for everyone. Some products or services were overtaken by rivals. Others were made obsolete. Here are seven tech products, concepts or services that are either terminally ill or no longer with us:
Microsoft MSFT, +1.27% finally pulled the plug on Windows XP. Here’s why the company did it, in its own words:
“We’ve been supporting Windows XP for the past 12 years — that’s longer than we’ve supported any other operating system in our history and already two years longer than the standard 10 years of support we normally provide. It’s time for us to look ahead so we can create better products and services for you and all our customers.”
If you’ve been waiting for a sign to upgrade, this is it.
I bet you knew I’d mention this one. If you somehow don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a refresher: Do you remember the website that is the epitome of piracy? No, not demonoid, isohunt, kickasstorrents or hundreds of other websites still alive and kicking, but that … other one ... yes, the Pirate Bay. On Dec. 9, the entire operation was shut down in a raid by Swedish police, who seized computers and the servers, thus ending one of the major providers of pirated content.
With GPS already a part of a standard equipment in most cars and almost all smartphones, it’s becoming increasingly unprofitable to sell a stand-alone unit. Granted, phones with GPS deplete the battery pretty fast, but portable (and solar-powered) chargers can quickly solve that problem. More efficient batteries will probably alleviate the issue altogether. Soon, the only people using stand-alone GPS devices will be die-hard adventurers or the occasional extreme-sports aficionado.
And I mean pretty much all optical discs currently available on the market. Having a bunch of plastic discs take up space just doesn’t make sense, whether it’s Blue-ray or DVD. Now we have massive bandwidth and ultra-small Flash memory USB 3.0 devices, after all. But keep the discs for other purposes — as glorified cup holders or mini-Frisbees.
Paying even a cent for a text message makes little sense when you can send them for free by using a messaging, carrier-independent web application. Although the text-messaging industry has grown exponentially, the current market conditions will prove to be detrimental, especially considering the increase in the number of free Wi-Fi access points worldwide.
This one belongs in a museum. I’m not being sarcastic. The plaque would read: “The shutdown of MSN Messenger signifies the beginning of the new era of multimedia-oriented messaging apps (most notably Skype, which replaced it).” Modern communication requires sleek, immersive apps that can handle screen sharing, as well as video and audio conversations. Although it may not happen in 2015, it’s only a matter of time until they replace “regular” phone conversations.
By this, I mean cable TV. Although I discussed this topic at length in one of my other articles, the demise of a traditional TV is still an important issue, as it will gradually change the way we receive and respond to information and entertainment. Nowadays, the average viewer has little patience for commercials, and even less time for channel-surfing in search of her favorite shows. As a growing number of services — Google’s GOOG, -0.17% YouTube, Netflix NFLX, +0.52% et al. — show, people prefer watching what they want and when they want it. They demand a hassle-free online experience. TV broadcasting houses have two choices: Either transform into interactive online multimedia services or die a slow death. We will get to see next year which option they picked.
Maybe there are some people doesn’t approve these information. The above text comes from Dewy Abramovich, no comment on the right or wrong in his review. Whether those technologies will disappear or not? Time will witness all. What we should do is only waiting and seeing.
Peter has always had great enthusiasm for writing, programming and web development. He likes writing about software and technology, his works are featured on some tech blogs or forums like Tom's Hardware, CNET, etc.
