[Ads-l] Kenneth Olsen Computer Quote

[Stephen Goranson]

This (GB snippet, or two combined) may not be close enough, or accurate, and you may have seen it:

Infosystems v. 29 p. 26
1982 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
He stressed that DEC is not really late in bringing out a personal computer noting that it has always appeared the company lags ... Olsen said that during the 70s DEC, which reported $3.2 billion in sales last year, had several tabletop computer models with TV screens demonstrated within the company.... the home computers are in closets unused," he commented.

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/


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From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <...>
Sent: Sunday, May 8, 2016 12:26 PM
To: ...
Subject: [ADS-L] Kenneth Olsen Computer Quote

Kenneth H. Olsen of the DEC Corporation is often credited with saying something like "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home" in a speech to the World Future Society in Boston in 1977.  Often it is said that Olsen was quoted to this effect in Time Magazine in 1977.

I can find no contemporaneous or near-contemporaneous documentation for Olsen having said this in 1977, nor have I found it quoted anywhere near 1977 in Time Magazine.  I would welcome any pre-1984 documentation for the quote, or any solid leads to verification of the quote.

Fred Shapiro

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