MSN is 15: they take us back to 1995 and forward to 2025, it sounds dreadful

MSN launched 15 years ago today, an era ago in internet time. They have set up a little site to remind us all what what 1995 was like. Pretty weird is the answer. Apparently people fancied Cindy Crawford.

MSN also decided to ask people what they thought the world would be like in another 15 years and predictably they got a hell load of really weird answers. That is what happens when you ask the general public things. Among the MSN users’ predictions for the 2025 are:

– 49 per cent think unemployment levels will have risen by 2025
– 48 per cent think Prince William will supersede Prince Charles to be King
– 22 per cent think humans will have set foot on Mars
– 40 per cent of men think ‘Moob’ surgery and genital enhancement will be commonplace
– 41 per cent of women think they will be able to try on clothes virtually before purchasing them online

OH DEAR GOD.

Silly surveys aside, MSN was pretty seminal to the web experience in the 90s and early 00s.. I don’t know if you spent your adolescence IM-ing people over this or not, but MSN set the precedents for our instant chat culture today as seen on Facebook, gmail and apps like Blackberry Messenger.

See more of the future according to MSN here