"Evidence for a BEC has long been seen in superfluids and superconductors, but the constituents of those condensates have strong interactions with one another, so the pristine nature of the BECs is hard to predict and observe. The best hope for clear manifestation of BEC behavior, it seemed, lay with a gas of weakly interacting atoms. ... Possible applications are still on the far horizon. Those that people often mention are ones that exploit the unprecedented control and manipulation of atoms that BECs offer at the quantum level. BECs offer hope of enhanced precision for atomic interferometry, rotation measurements, and atomic clocks. They might find a use in nanofabrication and atom lithography. Or they might play a role in quantum computing."