 |  I-Series Computing Concepts Stephen Haag,
University of Denver
Maeve Cummings,
Pittsburg State University
Alan I Rea, Jr.,
Western Michigan University
Computers In Your Life Today
Did You KnowPeople throughout history have always tried to predict the future. Some have been surprisingly successful. Others may have wished they kept their mouths shut. Let’s hear what some people had to say.
- "The telephone is inherently of no value to us," according to a Western Union internal memo in 1876.
- "Everything that can be invented has been invented," according to Charles H. Duell, Office of Patents in 1899.
- "Who wants to hear actors talk?" asked H.M. Warner of Warner Brothers in 1927.
- "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau," according to Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics at Yale University, in 1929.
- "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out," proclaimed Decca Recording executives in 1962 while reviewing a demo tape of some group called the Beatles.
- And last, but certainly not least, "I think there is a world market for maybe ?? computers," according to Thomas Watson, IBM Chair, in 1943.
Thomas Watson, Chair of IBM, will go down in infamy for predicting in 1943 that there would be a world market for only 5 computers. Everyone tries to predict the future -- be careful when predicting technology. It changes more rapidly and dramatically than you can imagine. |
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education