What companies do you think

[Mooch]

Boeing and Airbus? There are not many companies making airplanes and it seems difficult for new ones to become larger.

Aren't planes practically at their largest size possible because airports cannot take airplanes over a certain wingspan and the largest airplanes today have already reached that maximum?

That's not much of a problem since they can just modify the airports like they did for the A380. (Not that airplanes need to keep getting bigger for Airbus/Boeing to keep selling planes.) However, if no one flies in 100 years (transporters, etc), then it is unlikely Boeing or Airbus will still exist.

Technically Airbus isn't a company anyway, it is part of EADS.

 

[Lt. Cheka Wey]

I cannot wait for the day when facebook dies.

 

[Captain Ice]

Something tells me that Wal-Mart, Coke, and Southwest Airlines will still be around in some form or other.

As for companies that will be gone, I think the tobacco companies are at the top of the list

 

[Miss Chicken]

I think that when 3D printers become cheape, quicker and easier to use there wil be companies that will either go out of business, or suffer greatly, similar to the way Kodak was affected by the move to digital cameras. I wonder if Lego or Mattel etc are concerned about 3D printers?

 

[JarodRussell]

I think that when 3D printers become cheape, quicker and easier to use there wil be companies that will either go out of business, or suffer greatly, similar to the way Kodak was affected by the move to digital cameras. I wonder if Lego or Mattel etc are concerned about 3D printers?

You will not be able to print a Lego brick without having to pay for it.

Besides that, just printing something isn't enough.

 

[Kira's Mom]

. . . I am not sure about Pan Am in the movie as I haven't watched the movie in probably 20 years.

I don't recall Pan Am being mentioned in Blade Runner, but it did figure prominently in 2001: A Space Odyssey (as did the Bell System).

Who could have predicted in 1968 that the Bell System would be broken up and that Pan Am would cease operations well before 2001?

At least Hilton Hotels and Howard Johnson's are still in business, and I'd hazard a guess that they'll still be around in half a century.

Howard Johnson's restaurants are pretty much gone. The motels are still around.

Pan Am would probably still be around if airline deregulation hadn't happened. (So would National, Braniff, Eastern...).

I'm sure Apple and IBM will be around forever. Like cockroaches.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I think that when 3D printers become cheape, quicker and easier to use there wil be companies that will either go out of business, or suffer greatly, similar to the way Kodak was affected by the move to digital cameras. I wonder if Lego or Mattel etc are concerned about 3D printers?

You will not be able to print a Lego brick without having to pay for it.

Besides that, just printing something isn't enough.

But you will be able to design your own bricks that is either compatible with Lego or is a standalone brick building system.

 

[Portal]

General Motors

General Mills

General Dynamics

General Electric

 

[Captrek]

As for companies that will be gone, I think the tobacco companies are at the top of the list

They can stick around, they'll just have to make their products with cannabis instead of tobacco.

 

[JarodRussell]

I think that when 3D printers become cheape, quicker and easier to use there wil be companies that will either go out of business, or suffer greatly, similar to the way Kodak was affected by the move to digital cameras. I wonder if Lego or Mattel etc are concerned about 3D printers?

You will not be able to print a Lego brick without having to pay for it.

Besides that, just printing something isn't enough.

But you will be able to design your own bricks that is either compatible with Lego or is a standalone brick building system.

People are also able to produce their own films today. That doesn't have an effect on the incomes of professional films (the digital distribution channels and piracy do). And you're not going to do your own film if you want to see one, you buy the final product because it takes less effort to make.
That's the way I see it. The majority of people is not going to produce its own Lego kits because it's a lot more complicated. And pirating existing LEGO kits will be quite complicated as well.

When stuff comes out of a 3D printer, it's still pretty raw and needs further processing. And that won't change. It's comparable to printing your own photographs or burning your own CDs and printing your own CD booklets. You have a hard time matching the quality of professionally produced items.

 

[auntiehill]

General Motors

General Mills

General Dynamics

General Electric

In general?

 

[Nerys Myk]

 

[scotpens]

^^ Good one! (Yes, I got the Demolition Man reference.)

And it pretty much goes without saying . . .

 

[B.J.]

I'd guess the companies that have a wide variety of different products would be the ones most likely to survive, like Honda, not the ones that focus on a single product or service industry.

You will not be able to print a Lego brick without having to pay for it.

Besides that, just printing something isn't enough.

But you will be able to design your own bricks that is either compatible with Lego or is a standalone brick building system.

People are also able to produce their own films today. That doesn't have an effect on the incomes of professional films (the digital distribution channels and piracy do). And you're not going to do your own film if you want to see one, you buy the final product because it takes less effort to make.
That's the way I see it. The majority of people is not going to produce its own Lego kits because it's a lot more complicated. And pirating existing LEGO kits will be quite complicated as well.

When stuff comes out of a 3D printer, it's still pretty raw and needs further processing. And that won't change. It's comparable to printing your own photographs or burning your own CDs and printing your own CD booklets. You have a hard time matching the quality of professionally produced items.

Not only that, but the final costs will likely still be too great for an individual. The larger companies can make things cheaper for the consumer by making their products in bulk. An individual won't be able to do that cheaply. But, I would bet on creating personalized or unique LEGO-compatible bricks!

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Hopefully FedEx...at least until we develop transporter and/or replicator technology.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Something tells me that Wal-Mart, Coke, and Southwest Airlines will still be around in some form or other.

Wal-Mart makes it until at least the late 24th century, because they bought out Weyland-Yutani in Alien: Resurrection.

 

[lurok]

definitely not Atari . Coca-Cola probably. And Microsoft, even if under different name...

 

[Captrek]

And Microsoft, even if under different name...

But definitely not beleaguered Apple Computer.

 

[Australis]

Honeywell, been going since 1906 and still growing.

 

[cultcross]

The companies still around will be those who had the sense to diversify and aren't reliant on the fortunes of a single industry or commercial activity. Virgin, as a well known example. Those dependent on the pre digital way of life (especially physical media) will fade slowly over the next few decades, including I suspect some really big names.