Good ideas before their time, pipedreams held by a few technology zealots,

 My late  father in law who was in  IAS ( Indian Administrative service) was always coming with  new Business ideas. Of course they never succeeded  or made money,(otherwise  i would have  had  a ghost writer writing this post for me !) Mainly because  they  were much before  their  ideal time  for adoption with the   appropriately suitable  economical technology and  adequate volumes.

Selling  water ( Became possible only after  some one came  up with the  badly polluting  idea  of  expanded  PET bottles)

 Cement blocks/ prefab concrete construction 9 He started a company along with a friend, who was  an engineer called  "Hari Om modular construction" which  folded up in a few years . i wish he was alive today to see all the modular construction  mushrooming in Hyderabad  India

Cds/ DVDs ( came and  went  poof  in no time,before I could master Authorware ,( remeber that  software ?)  

Iridium ( A fantastic  idea  too much futuristic for it's time )


Java

Java

The development of Java was, by some standards, a failure. Java was initially developed for interactive television and ultimately to connect “smart” devices, which didn’t really catch on until about fifteen years after Java’s release. We take it for granted now that our newer flat screen TVs are Internet ready, allowing us to surf the Net while we watch shows on demand and check our email. Back in 1995, this was a pipedream held by a few technology zealots, certainly not by the mainstream public. What arguably saved Java was the proliferation of the Internet, which we’ll say more about in a moment. From near failure to ultimate success, Java is today one of the most popular programming language in the world, according to the TIOBE Programming Community Index (http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html).