Quote Origin: I Think There Is a World Market for About Five Computers

Thomas J. Watson Sr.? Thomas J. Watson Jr.? Howard H. Aiken? Harold Bergstein? J. Presper Eckert? John Mauchly? Chris Morgan? David Langford? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Collections of boneheaded predictions are popular with people who enjoy laughter combined with commiseration or superiority. Computers were extraordinarily expensive in the 1950s. First-generation machines used vacuum tubes …

Quote Origin: If Your Idea Is Original, You Will Have to Ram It Down People’s Throats

Howard H. Aiken? Kenneth E. Iverson? Gregory W. Welch? Robert Slater? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A cynical comment about innovation states that it is not necessary to fear the theft of your ideas because people obstinately resist imaginative ideas. If your idea is original, you will have to ram it down people’s throats. This …