Famous Last Words...

(An e-mail sneeze)

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

"I think there is a world market f or maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"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 EquipmentCorp.,1977

"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 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

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn
better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."
A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper
proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found
Federal Express Corp.)

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."
Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure deGuerre

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."
Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the
intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon."
Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary
to Queen Victoria 1873

640K ought to be enough for anybody. Bill Gates, 1981