Computer proverbs

[Towse]

"James A. Landau" wrote:
>
> Time magazine (URL http://www.time.com/time/europe/forecast2003/) has put
> together a list of bad predictions.  Some of them have been discussed here in
> ADS-L previously, such as
>
>      I think there is a world market for maybe five computers
>         THOMAS WATSON,
>         chairman of IBM, 1943 on seeing the first mainframe computer
>
> As I have previously commented, the attribution to Thomas Watson [Sr.] is
> highly suspect.  Also TIME added a mistake to this mistake by using the word
> "mainframe" which was not coined until years later and which cannot be
> applied to any computer before Great Britain's EDSAC, first operational in
> 1948.
>
> A few others which might comtend for the honor of being "computer proverbs"
>
>       Men might as well project a voyage to the Moon as attempt to communicate
>       electronically across or under the stormy North Atlantic Ocean
>           Dr DIONYSYS LARDER (1793-1859),
>           professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, University College
> London
>
> This one is suspect because of the word "electronically" which is a 20th
> Century term and which refers to devices which were not invented/discovered
> until circa the 1880's.  Another from the same predictor:
>
>      Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because passengers,
>      unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia
>      Dr DIONYSYS LARDER (1793-1859),
>      professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, University College London
>
>      Radio has no future
>          LORD KELVIN,
>          Scottish mathematician and physicist, former president of the Royal
> Society,
>          1897
>
>      [By 1985], machines will be capable of doing any work Man can do
>         HERBERT A. SIMON,
>          of Carnegie Mellon University -- considered to be a founder of the
> field of artificial intelligence --  speaking in 1965
>
>        Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop - because women like
> to get out of the house, like to handle merchandise, like to be able to change
> their minds
>          TIME,
>          1966, in one sentence writing off e-commerce long before anyone
>          had ever heard of it
>
>         This antitrust thing will blow over
>         BILL GATES,
>         founder of Microsoft
>
>       You wouldn't want to be in an airplane, you wouldn't want to be in an
> elevator, and you wouldn't want to be in a hospital... contingency plans need to
> be put into place to minimize the harm from widespread failures
>         Sen. CHRIS DODD,
>         Year 2000 Tech Committee Senate Hearings into the Millennium Bug,
>        June 12, 1998
>
>        Sterility may be inherited
>        PACIFIC RURAL NEWS
>
> Huh?
>
> and I can't resist this one, even though not computer-related:
>
>         A short-lived satirical pulp
>         TIME,
>         writing off Mad magazine in 1956. Mad is still going. (So is TIME)

Here are a few more:

(1949) - "Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000
vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have
only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1 1/2 tons."
- Popular Mechanics

(1977) - "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in
their home."
- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment
Corp.

(1982) - "$100 million dollars is way too much to pay for
Microsoft."
- IBM, 1982

More here: <http://www.99main.com/~charlief/q/prediction.html>

and here:
<http://www.google.com>
search: computers olson watson predictions

Sal
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