Great predictions on computers from some rather reputable sources: ‘I think there is a world market for maybe five computers’
Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943
‘While a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 10000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers of the future may have only 1000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons.‘ 
Popular mechanics, 1949
ENIAC – Short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator, the ENIAC was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania and began construction in 1943 and was not completed until 1946. It occupied about 1,800 square feet and used about 18,000 vacuum tubes, weighing almost 50 tons. While not completed until the end of the World War II, the ENIAC was created to help with the war efforts against German forces.
‘I have travelled 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‘
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, commenting on the microchip, 1968
‘There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in the home’
Ken Olson, Present, Chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977
‘640K should be enough for anybody’
Bill Gates, 1981
Thanks to
Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Department
University of Cape Town
http://www.mth.uct.ac.za/digest/pcquotes.html
