Five predictions of Bill Gates in 1999 that have already come true

In 1999, Bill Gates wrote the book "Business with the speed of Thought", in which he made amazing predictions about the future for that time. Almost 20 years have passed since then, and the future of Gates has already come — most of his prophecies, which sounded too presumptuous in the late 90s, have already found their embodiment.

Mobile devices

Bill Gates: "People will walk around with small devices that will allow them to always be in touch and do business wherever they are. They will be able to check the news, book flights, get information about the state of the financial market."

Today: smartphones, and now also smart watches and bracelets.

Social network

Bill Gates: "Private websites for friends and family, allowing you to communicate and schedule meetings, will become commonplace."

Today: two billion people already use Facebook. Facebook Instagram, WhatsApp, and Snapchat are also available.

Sites of interest

Bill Gates: "Online communities will be formed by interests, not by location, as before."

Today: all kinds of news sites and online communities specialize in a single topic. A striking example is Reddit, which is divided into subgroups, or "subreddits", formed on specific topics, and not by geography or social ties.

Price comparison sites

Bill Gates: "Services will be created that automatically compare prices, allowing people to see the cost of goods on numerous sites and effortlessly find what they need at the lowest price."

Today: on Google and Amazon, you can easily find any product at any price. Services such as NexTag and PriceGrabber are specially created for price comparison. In Russia, this is Yandex.Market.

Job Search Online

Bill Gates: "People who are looking for a job will be able to find it online by uploading information about interests, expectations and skills to their profile."

Today: LinkedIn website, in Russia — Headhunter, Superjob, Rabota.