Also in 1977, from Ken Olson, President and cofounder of Digital Equipment Corporation: "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home."
"I think there's a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas J. Watson (1943), Chairman of IBM
"Only six electronic digital computers would be required to satisfy the computing needs of the entire United States." - Howard Aiken (1947), founder of Harvard Computation Laboratory
"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." - editor of business books for Prentice Hall (1957)
“Unless you are very rich and very eccentric, you will not enjoy the luxury of a computer in your own home.” - Edward Yourdon (1975), “Techniques of program structure and design”, Prentice Hall
Gosh, I grew up in the town next to East Longmeadow, I'm glad I didn't know computers were a passing fad when I signed up for an evening class in Fortran programming in 1965.
When I went to college in 1976-79, my entire experience with computers was carrying IBM punch cards from table to table to register my classes. I ended up with a friend who took every computer class that school offered, all three: Basic, Cobol, and Fortran. Within a year of graduation, she was a systems analyst.
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Also in 1977, from Ken Olson, President and cofounder of Digital Equipment Corporation: "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home."
Banner year for predictions.
"I think there's a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas J. Watson (1943), Chairman of IBM
"Only six electronic digital computers would be required to satisfy the computing needs of the entire United States." - Howard Aiken (1947), founder of Harvard Computation Laboratory
"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." - editor of business books for Prentice Hall (1957)
“Unless you are very rich and very eccentric, you will not enjoy the luxury of a computer in your own home.” - Edward Yourdon (1975), “Techniques of program structure and design”, Prentice Hall
Gosh, I grew up in the town next to East Longmeadow, I'm glad I didn't know computers were a passing fad when I signed up for an evening class in Fortran programming in 1965.
When I went to college in 1976-79, my entire experience with computers was carrying IBM punch cards from table to table to register my classes. I ended up with a friend who took every computer class that school offered, all three: Basic, Cobol, and Fortran. Within a year of graduation, she was a systems analyst.
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