[SunRescue] Rant on industry employment practices, was RE: 16 MB memory module for Voyager

scohen - Stephen Cohen rescue at sunhelp.org
Tue Jan 9 11:38:30 CST 2001


> > "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers"
> > Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM (1943)

The quote is accurate but the person is not.  It was uttered by the then CEO
of what later became Sperry-UNIVAC.  He was a former chairman of the Joint
Chief's of Staff, hired upon his retirement from the military.  His vision
of the computer industry was focused entirely on the federal government as
the primary customer.  This was later modified to include oil companies,
airlines, and Boeing.

Upon having made this public, IBM promptly developed/released the far
inferior MARK series and sold the wazoo out if it, mostly to banking and
financial institutions.  And thus the race was over even before it started.



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