Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
#1
We all know about Thomas J Watson, Chairman of IBM who said in 1943 that he could see a world market for five computers.
There some more rather embarrassed computer experts:
In 1949 the editor of 'Popular Mechanics' said that 'in future computers will weigh no more than 1.5 tonnes'
The editor of Prentice Hall (a business book company) said in 1957 that 'data processing was a fad that won't last out the year'
In 1964 Dr Arthur L Samuel said 'nor are computers going to get any faster'
An IBM engineer in 1968 was discussing the microchip and asked 'but what is it good for'
Ken Olson of DEC said in 1977 'there is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home'
Even Bill Gates said in 1981 '640k ought to be enough for anybody'
Changing the subject from computers a sea captain E J Smith was speaking about his life saying how uneventful it was 'I have never had any accident of any sort worth speaking about, nor was I in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort. I am not good material for a story'. He was given the captaincy of a new liner 5 years later for his last voyage before retirement, that was the Titanic...
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#2
good stuff barry, reminds me of the legend that owning a newfoundland dog brought good luck.
general custer purchased one just in time for the battle of little big horn.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#3
When I worked for Natwest (I started in 1970) at their computer centre in the City, the IBM computers were huge; must have been about 7 foot tall and the same width and about 2 1/2 feet deep - and that was only for printing statements.
The last few years I worked on Tandem computers (they controlled all the ATMs and lines where credit/debit cards are processed) and they were a lot smaller - still pretty big but could do so much more.
Roger
#4
DHB used Tandem computers back in the late 1980's - early 1990's. We thought about using them at P&O too, but went for Ken Olson's DEC VAX clustered technology instead.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#5
I didn't have the knowledge or authority to decide on the hardware Sid, but being "in tandem", there was no impact on processing and service if any one part of the (main-frame) computers failed.
If something did go wrong, with say the lines to Tesco's, all hell would break loose.
Roger