Some technologies went away with 2014

MarketWatch columnist Jurica Dujmovic wrote an article reviewing the products, concepts and services that officially disappeared in 2014 or will definitely disappear in the future due to technological progress. The following is the full text of Dujmovic's commentary: From the perspective of modern science and technology, the past twelve months have been a wonderful year. In the fields of medicine, agriculture, robotics and privacy, we have made considerable progress, and these progresses themselves have laid the foundation for further progress in the future. Not to mention, in 2014, many high-tech devices were unveiled to the world.

However, this year was not so great for everyone. Some products or services were defeated by competitors, and some were abandoned. The following products, concepts and services are representatives of the losers, destined to disappear from our lives.

1. Windows XP

Microsoft (MSFT) has finally come to the point of killing off Windows XP. Why did they do this? Here’s how the company explained it:

"We have continued to support Windows XP for the past 12 years, longer than any other operating system and two years beyond our normal support schedule. Now is the time to move forward and create even better products and services for you and all of our customers."

So, you can't wait until the next upgrade.

2. The Pirate Bay

I bet you could have guessed I was going to mention The Pirate Bay. If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me remind you again: Remember that big index of all kinds of pirated content? No, not demonoid, isohunt, kickasstorrents, or any of the hundreds of other similar sites that are still up and running, but... The Pirate Bay. On December 9th, their entire operation was shut down after a raid by Swedish police, who seized computers and servers, bringing an end to one of the world's largest providers of pirated content.

3. Standalone GPS device

GPS is already a "standard feature" in most cars and almost all smartphones, and it is becoming increasingly unprofitable to produce and sell stand-alone GPS products. It is true that the battery of a mobile phone will drain quickly when GPS is turned on, but power banks can easily solve this problem, and there are solar-powered power banks. With the development of battery technology, this may not be a problem one day. Soon we will see that apart from truly professional explorers or extreme sports enthusiasts, there will be no other users of stand-alone GPS devices.

4. CD

Here, I'm talking about all the various optical discs on the market. A bunch of plastic discs take up a lot of space, and you don't have to use them. Whether it's Blu-ray or DVD, it no longer makes sense. We now have amazing bandwidth and super small flash USB 3.0 devices. Why do we still need optical discs? I think the optical discs in your hands will soon become coasters or mini Frisbees.

5. SMS

Now that we can send free text messages using carrier-independent web apps, it's obviously a waste to spend a penny on SMS. The SMS business did have its glory days of exponential growth, but its fate is sealed in the current market environment, not to mention the increasing number of free wifi hotspots around the world.

6. MSN Messenger

This thing should be in a museum. I don't mean to be sarcastic, but I think the introduction to this exhibit in a museum should be: "The closure of MSN Messenger heralds the arrival of a new era of multimedia messaging applications (such as Skype, which replaced it)." Only those convenient, immersive applications that can solve screen sharing and initiate audio and video conversations can truly meet the needs of modern communication. Although it's not 2015, sooner or later, they will completely replace our ordinary phone calls.

7. Traditional TV

Specifically, I'm talking about cable TV. Although I've discussed this before in other columns, it's worth mentioning here given its importance - the gradual death of traditional television, which means that the way we receive information and entertainment and respond to it is gradually changing. Today, viewers are increasingly impatient with commercials and are increasingly reluctant to spend time scanning channels to find their favorite programs. More and more services, from Google's (GOOG) YouTube to Netflix (NFLX), have proven that people still prefer to watch what they want, when they want. They want an online experience without any interruptions. Those traditional TV organizations have only two choices - transform into interactive online multimedia services or slowly die. In the next year, we will quietly watch how they choose.

Link to this article: http://www.oschina.net/news/58521/tech-died-in-2014