The Unsure IT Gurus (quotes or misquotes?)
Can you believe that these IT gurus were all set to give up before their inventions changed the world forever? Read on...
(Taken from Economic Times and in turn www.businessballs.com)
'I think there's a world market for maybe five PCs.' (Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.)
'640K ought to be enough for anybody.' (Bill Gates, Microsoft, 1981.)
'There is no reason why anyone would want to have a computer in their home.' (Ken Olson, president, Founder, Digital Equipment Corp, 1977.)
'This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be considered as a means of communication. The device is of no value to us.' (Western Union memo, 1876)
'Heavier than air flying machines are impossible.' (Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.)
'But what is it good for?' (An IBM Engineer commenting on the micro chip, 1968)
'We went to Atari, they said 'No'. So we went to HP; 'We don't need you. You haven't got through college yet'.' (Apple founder Steve Jobs, 1980's)
'Everything that can be invented has been invented.' (Charles H Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.)
Some more at the external link.
1 Comments:
Maybe they should have checked those out.
About TJ Watson's 'quote' (which should read 'computer', not 'PC'), from Wikipedia: "there is no evidence he ever made it. The author Kevin Maney tried to find the origin of the quote. He has been unable to locate any speeches or documents of Watson's that contain this, nor is it present in any contemporary articles about IBM. The earliest known citation is from 1986 on Usenet in the signature of a poster from Convex Computer Corporation..."
About BillG's comment, from Wired: "Silly quotations do have a way of floating like rumors. Well, the truth starts here. He never said it."
About Ken Olsen's comment, from Snopes: "What Olsen was addressing in 1977 was the concept of powerful central computers that controlled every aspect of home life: turning lights on and off, regulating temperature, choosing entertainments, monitoring food supplies and preparing meals, etc. The subject of his remark was not the personal use computer..."
Given the poor research on those first three items, I won't even bother to consider the rest.
-- Doug
5:51 PM
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