OK, so Gates denies ever saying the infamous line “640K software is all the memory anybody would ever need on a computer,” but I still think it’s the best illustration of the pitfalls of making predictions about the future-proofness of a technology.
Discussing the impending inclusion of IPv6 records in the internet’s root servers the BBC’s technology news proclaims today:
Under IPv6 an effectively inexhaustible pool of addresses becomes available.
I haven’t studied the matter in any great detail but surely that’ s a very bold claim.