The world and business computing in 2051: from LEO to RUR?

It is now just over 50 years since the deployment of LEO-the first business computer and application in 1951. The paper attempts to look 50 years beyond the birth of LEO in order to discern the nature and effects of business computing in 2051. Scenarios are offered of some possible business applications fifty years hence. These include the business information systems in space and the nature of manufacturing. The scenarios serve as a basis for addressing a number of issues. These include the availability of technology to support the scenarios presented, the nature of organizations shaped by future information systems, the nature of employment in the new organizational structure, consumervendor relations in the new economy, the effects of the new information technology on the nature of national governments, and the effect of information technologies on the structure of the global economy. q 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.