"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously
considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no
value to us." --Western Union internal memo, 1876.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." --Charles
H.
Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who
would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" --David
Sarnoff's
associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the
1920s.
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
--Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
--Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked
with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad
that won't last out the year." --The editor in charge of business
books
for Prentice Hall, 1957
"But what ... is it good for?" --Engineer at the Advanced
Computing
Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
--Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp.,
1977
"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981
