Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I did not have anyone's name on the message I sent. Just thought it was interesting to read. Boy are you sensitive..... - -----Original Message----- From: B. D. Colen [mailto:BDColen@earthlink.net] Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 1999 9:31 AM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: RE: [Leica] WOW....in 50 years.... > With all the discussion of digital vs. film I thought the LUGs would be > interested to see what was thought of by others in the heart of > their field > 10-50+ years ago. It may give us an idea of what we may sound > like 50 years > from now. > > "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. JIM IS NOT SUGGESTING THAT DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY IS OF NO VALUE AND HAS NO FUTURE. > "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." > --Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895. JIM IS NOT SUGGESTING THAT DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY IS IMPOSSIBLE > > "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." > --Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole > Superieure de Guerre 1911. JIM IS NOT SUGGESTING THAT DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY IS ONLY A TOY. > "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." > --Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943 JIM IS NOT SUGGESTING THAT THERE IS NO SIGNIFICANT MARKET FOR DIGITAL. > "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." > --Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of > science, 1949 JIM IS NOT SUGGESTING THAT TODAY'S BULKY DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY WILL NOT BE MINIATURIZED. > "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 JIM IS NOT SUGGESTING THAT DIGITAL IS A FAD. > "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." > --Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. JIM IS NOT SAYING THAT HE DOESN'T LIKE DIGITAL AND THAT IT WON'T SUCCEED. > "But what ... is it good for?" > --Engineer at IBM's Advanced Computing Systems Division (1968) > commenting on the microchip. JIM IS NOT SUGGESTING THAT DIGITAL IS GOOD FOR NOTHING. > "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." > --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital > Equipment Corp., 1977 JIM IS NOT SUGGESTING THAT WE WON'T ALL WANT DIGITAL - EVENTUALLY. > "640K ought to be enough for anybody." > -- Bill Gates, 1981 JIM IS NOT SUGGESTING THAT WHAT IS CONSIDERED ACCEPTABLE DIGITAL TODAY IS THE LIMIT OF THE TECHNOLOGY. > "Sometimes when you're too close to something, you can't see past it." > -- Peter K., member LUG group 1999 No, sometimes when one of us has no technical knowledge of a subject but enormous prejudice against it and belief in a competing technology, we tend to make silly statements that add nothing to an otherwise serious and interesting discussion. B. D. Colen, LUG member, 1999