Friday, March 6, 2009

Great Quotes of Failed Predictions

One of my professors showed us a video the other day that was a commercial for Linux. It had a ton of quotes from people about technology and stuff, and I love quotes like these so I thought I would post them up.

The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.
-Western Union [1876]

Everything that can be invented has been invented.
-US Patent Commissioner [1899]
(Interestingly enough, our teacher informed us that the US patent office actually shut down for a while at that time)

The phonograph has no commercial value at all
-Thomas Edison [1880]

The radio craze will die out in time.
-Thomas Edison [1922]

The automobile has practically reached the limit of its development.
-Scientific American [1909]

Man will not fly for fifty years.
-Orville Wright [1901]

A rocket will never leave the Earth's atmosphere.
-New York Times [1936]

There is a world market for maybe 5 computers.
-IBM's Thomas Watson [1943]

640k ought to be enough for anybody.
-Bill Gates [1981]

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