Quotes From the past
Thanks to Irishrose, Rosemary Bednarczyk
I'm calling these groaners because
just thinking about the statements makes me groan. (Mike)
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the
power of the atom."
-- Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics,
1923
"Computers in the future may weigh no more
than 1.5 tons."
-- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless
march of science, 1949
"I think there is a world market for maybe
five computers."
-- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
"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?" commenting on the
microchip."
-- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems
Division of IBM, 1968
"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
-- Bill Gates, 1981
"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
"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial
value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
in response to urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
-- David Sarnoff' Associates (president of
RCA)
"The concept is interesting and well-formed,
but in order to earn better than a 'C', the idea must be feasible,"
-- A Yale University management professor
in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery
service. Smith went on to found Federal Express.
"I'm just glad it will be Clark Gable who falls
on his face, not Gary Cooper,"
-- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take
the leading role in Gone With The Wind.
"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides,
the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft
and chewy cookies like you make,"
-- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting
Mrs. Fields' Cookies
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music
is on the way out."
-- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the
Beatles, 1962
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible,"
-- Lord Kelvin, president Royal Society, 1895
"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have
done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said
you can't do this."
-- Spencer Silver on the work that led to
the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.
"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the
ground to try and find oil? You're crazy,"
-- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried
to enlist to his project to drill for oil, 1859
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently
high plateau."
-- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics,
Yale University, 1929
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military
value,"
-- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy,
Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
-- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US
Office of Patents, 1899
"The super computer is technologically impossible.
It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the
heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required."
-- Professor of Electrical Engineering, New
York University
"I don't know what use any one could find for
a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't
be a feasible business by itself.
-- the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea,
forcing the inventor to found Xerox
"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous
fiction."
-- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology
at Toulouse, 1872
"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will
forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon."
-- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon,
appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer
in their home."
-- Ken Olson, president, chairman, founder
of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977 |