Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Experts too have difficulty predicting the future


Thanks to Gyan Parida, who collected these bits of wisdom from the past that had been previously posted on FB by Adam Roberts:
"There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home."— Ken Olsen, Founder Digital Equipment Corp.,1977 
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."— Thomas Watson, Chairman IBM, 1943 
"Automobiles are just a fad. They can never replace horses."— Chief of the Michigan Savings Bank advised the lawyer of Henry Ford, 1902 
"It is impossible to come up with a 32 bit operating system. We will never make a 32 bit operating system."— Bill Gates 
"Radio has no future. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. X-rays will prove to be a hoax" — William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, British scientist, 1899 
"Nuclear energy will never be obtainable"— Albert Einstein
"A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere."— New York Times, 1936 
"There will never be a bigger plane built."— A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people 
"Travelling through rail will never be possible."— Dionysius Lardner 
"Fooling around with alternating current is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever." — Thomas Edison 
"Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop"— TIME magazine, 1968 
"I predict the internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse."— Robert Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet,1995 
"There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No Chance."— Steve Ballmer, 2007 
"There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the United States."— T. Craven, FCC commissioner, 1961 
"While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility."— Lee DeForest 
"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.

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