Bill Gates
A few quotes to put things in perspective...
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 memo, 1876
I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
- Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943
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 perhaps weigh one and a half tons.
- Popular Mechanics, March 1949
I've travelled 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 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, commenting on the microchip, 1968
There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
- Ken Olson Founder of DEC, 1977
640k ought to be enough for anybody.
- Bill Gates, 1981
Note: the 2011 revision of this site was done on a computer with 16GB of memory and a 2TB hard drive!
The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers.
- Bill Gates
(September 2011) ...and just maybe...
Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. (or words to that effect)
- Albert Einstein