Around 1994 I was speaking of the possibility of developing what I called the information furnace. I used the anology of central heating and said that the idea of having homes with multiple computers each having their own programs and disks was kind of like how the Brits heated their homes. I was thinking about this again today because of the Microsoft home server announcement at CES.I have often made the mistake of being to early. Well that is not a problem Microsoft suffers from. Just the opposit. So I search the net for a quote from me about the Information Furnace. And in the process I found a wonderful article from Fortune Mag. in 1994. And happily I found a quote there where I said, “advertising is probably the killer app” for the internet. So I have copied the article below. It is definitly worth reading.By the way, one of the concepts I had was that the home computing could also be provided as a service for a monthly charge instead of buying devices. This will come to pass also.

SET-TOP BOX WARS THE BATTLE FOR THE INFOBAHN IS ABOUT TO START — RIGHT IN YOUR LIVING ROOM The household device that receives and decodes digital data could decide who wins control of the information highway.

By Andrew Kupfer REPORTER ASSOCIATE Byron Harmon

August 22, 1994

Link to article