In May 1987 I wrote in the foreword of the first issue of the magazine Language Technology: "The language industries are booming". The signs were abundant. WordPerfect was heading for sales of $100 Million in 1987. Microsoft published Bookshelf, the first CD ROM software reference work for writers. ALPS was about to break through with a revolutionary translation product. IBM announced its AT-based voice recognition system. Electronic dictionaries like TermTracer were ready to hit mass markets. After decades of number crunching the computer was now learning how to tackle language. The emerging language industries were the fruition of years of patient research and development. We were excited about this bright looking future. Our reporters went out to cover this new embryonic industry. For two years we wrote about the future of multilingualism.