http://www.rinkworks.com/said/predictions.shtml
“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 weigh only 1.5 tons.” — Popular Mechanics, 1949
“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?” — Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.
“640K ought to be enough for anybody.” — Attributed to Bill Gates, 1981, but believed to be an urban legend.
“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 Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.” — Sir William Preece, chief engineer of the British Post Office, 1876.
“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” — David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
“While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility.” — Lee DeForest, inventor.
Although, this guy may have had a point:
“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” — H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
““But what...is it good for?” — Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.”
OK, I’ve got to call that one out. Any engineer, or for that matter anyone who knew anything about computing at the time, would have recognized the advantages of the “microchip”. Speaking of which, did they really mean “microchip”. IIRC, by the late 60s they were really only doing small-scale ICs, which were nonetheless a great improvement over boards full of discrete transistors and other components, which themselves were a great improvement over vacuum tubes. In any case, if nothing else, “microchips” enabled reducing the size and power consumption of IBM mainframes greatly, again an advantage that any fool could see.