'Never' in the computer world

Whever I hear part of the phrase 'will never' in regards to computers, I have to say something about it. Let's see:

  • 'everything that can be' ... 'has been invented' - patent office guy
  • 'world market' ... 'maybe five computers' - IBM guy
  • 'no reason' ... ' computer in home' - DEC guy
  • "640 kilobytes' ... 'enough for anyone' - Microsoft guy

And some other anecdotes

  • 'When I got my first hard drive' ... '2 megabytes' ... 'we called it "Gigantor"' -- Teacher guy
  • "My first hard drive was 20 megabytes' ... 'told I would never fill it' -- Multimedia guy

So with that historical record in mind, what do I see on slashdot this morning:

Sony claiming that nobody will ever use the capacity of the PS3.

This should be interesting...

Comments

upgraded 20 meg drive to a 2 terrabyte drive and it's almost full now

To me, it's that people never learn. They say 'this is big enough'. It's never like that. It's only 'enough' for a while.

Only the times have changed. The need for storage never does. The only difference between yesterday and today is that a washing-machine-sized system for storing disk platters just holds a lot more bytes.

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