There is never, ever, going to be enough bandwidth. Our need for it will expand as fast as capacity. So at least in the near term, any client-based facility that effectively increases bandwidth is going to be a winner. MP3 is an example. A more interesting example comes from Nicholas Negroponte's book Being Digital. NN asserts that music is intrinsically wasteful of bandwidth, since it transmits all the overtones and harmonics that could be reconstructed at the client side. So a technique of capturing only the pianist's finger motions (which key, when, how fast, how long a hold, etc.) would result in a single CD able to hold all of Mozart plus Beethoven. Bandwidth multipliers are going to be a trend.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

Answers

I believe that usage will grow to fill up the available bandwidth (Orr's Corollary to Parkinson's Law). However, bandwidth is increasing on three fronts: (1) increasing the side of pipe (the amount one can push down a single fiber is growing dramatically, (2) the compression becomes smarter and smarter as we have more and more powerful computers at each end of the pipe, and (3) better and better switching equipment.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999