The last issue of TIME magazine had an interesting article on quantum computers \u2014 the acknowledged future of computers. IBM is the recognized leader in the development of these machines and a number of IBM employees were interviewed for input to the article. IBM was once synonymous with computers, but over the years kind of got left behind by companies like Apple and Microsoft. During their interviews, they acknowledged that IBM had fallen behind by not seizing the initiative with cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence and said, \u201cIt\u2019s no secret that we let things slip by not jumping on the cloud.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course we often don\u2019t see the future clearly. I remember a famous quote made by Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM in 1943 \u2014 \u201cI think there is a world marked for maybe five computers.\u201d\u00a0
But Watson wasn\u2019t alone \u2014 I dug up a few more quotes from fairly knowledgeable people, not that many years ago:
\u201cBut what \u2026 is it good for?\u201d Those words were spoken by an engineer at the Advanced Computing System Division of IBM in 1968 (commenting on the microchip.)
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, in 1977, said: \u201cThere is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.\u201d
From an article in a 1949 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine \u2014 \u201cComputers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.\u201d
In 1981, Bill Gates said, \u201c640K ought to be enough for anybody.\u201d
And Steve Jobs wrote about attempts he and Steve Wozniak made to interest Atari and Hewlett-Packard in the personal computer that they created\u2026.
\u201cSo we went to Atari and said, \u2018Hey, we\u2019ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we\u2019ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, and we\u2019ll come to work for you.\u2019 And they said \u2018No.\u2019 \u2018So then we went to Hewlett-Packard and they said, \u201cHey, we don\u2019t need you. You haven\u2019t got through college yet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I guess even those who should know, don\u2019t always. Someone once said that prediction is very difficult, especially if it\u2019s about the future.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The last issue of TIME magazine had an interesting article on quantum computers \u2014 the acknowledged future of computers. IBM is the recognized leader in the development of these machines and a number of IBM employees were interviewed for input … Continue reading