Bust All Myths!

Sreekanth Jayanti

“Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy.”

-- Workers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to drill for oil, 1859

“Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.” -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

“The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.”

-- Sir William Preece, chief engineer of the British Post Office, 1876.

“The telephone has too many short comings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is of no inherent value to us.”

- A memo at Western Union, 1876.

“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” -- Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, 1895

“There will never be a bigger plane built.” -- A Boeing engineer, after first flight of 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people.

“Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Prof. of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.

“The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.”

-- President of Morgan Savings Bank to lawyers of Ford Motor Co., 1903.

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?”

-- David Sarnoff's associates in response to urgings for investment in the radio, 1920s.

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” - H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

“The cinema is little more than a fad. It’s canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage.”

- Charlie Chaplin, 1916.

“A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.”

-- New York Times, 1936

“I think there is a world market for may be five computers.”

-- Thomas Watson, Chairman, IBM, 1943

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

-- Ken Olson, President, DEC, 1977

“We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”

-- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

“With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market.”

-- Business Week, August 2, 1968.

“Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.”

– HP Execs to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak's personal computer

“While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility.”

-- Lee DeForest, inventor.

BUST ALL MYTHS!

Sreekanth Jayanti