  We comment on the status and prospects of the minimal non-supersymmetric
renormalizable SO(10) grand unified model. We emphasize its unique predictive
power owing to the particular robustness of the gauge unification pattern to
the leading-order Planck-scale effects which, in turn, makes it essentially the
only unified framework in which the proton lifetime may be estimated with
better than the leading order precision. This, together with the frequent
presence of light-scale exotics accessible, in principle, at future colliders,
is the key to its potential testability at the upcoming megaton-scale
facilities such as Hyper-Kamiokande or LENA.
