-
Report as spam
Discussion
-
Post 1 of 3
-
Geek Trivia truth or fiction.....640K should be enough - Bill Gates
-
.
The quote, "640K should be enough for anyone", attributed to Bill Gates, is often used as a humorous jab at Gates. In fact, the geek even used it in his geek trivia news letter. My question for you, even though I'll answer it myself, is this. Do you think Bill Gates really said that, or is it an urban legend? Most people would answer yes, he did say that, because it's been repeated so many times. However, Bill Gates never did say it, at least not in the context as often presented (or so he says).
In the spirit of the old saying, a lie will travel 10,000 miles before the truth puts its shoes on, I though I might try to dispel that urban legend by telling what Bill Gates really did say, and the context in which it was said. His main point, at least according to Gates himself, was that the 640K limit in early PCs was imposed by the design of processing chips, not the software, and he'd been pushing to raise the limit. So in the context of the limits imposed by the "chip of the day", and the chip of that day was the 8088, 640k was indeed enough for anybody, because any more than that wasn't supported by the processor limitations.
So what do you know for sure? Did Gates really say that, or did he not? Is he trying to backpedal by his subsequent explanation, or is the quote really a lame attempt to discredit Bill Gates?
An interesting article, including a personal reply from Bill Gates on the issue, can be found at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/2zhpr
(I wonder if this article is "truth or fiction?)
What's the purpose of this discussion? Well, it is "tech" related, so it can't be slammed as yet another off-topic discussion. And it does address something in a Techrepublic newsletter. Are there any other "truth or fiction" examples out there? And besides, I had 15 minutes to kill, so I though it might be interesting to see what kind of life (if any) this does take.
By the way, try to find the exact text of that particular speech in which he allegedly said that. Happy hunting.
Later...
-
Posted: 04/22/2004 @ 10:08 AM (PDT)
-
-
- maxwell edison
1133
- Job Role: Other
- Location: God's Country, Colorado
- Member since: 08/15/2001
-
View Profile
| Send Message
SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads
White Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads
Browse by Tag
-
networking
- Popular tags:
windows,
software,
hardware,
security,
it management
-
e-mail
- Popular tags:
windows,
software,
networking,
security,
hardware
-
hardware
- Popular tags:
windows,
software,
networking,
it management,
security
-
programming
- Popular tags:
software,
windows,
networking,
hardware,
it management
-
software
- Popular tags:
windows,
hardware,
networking,
programming,
it management
-
windows
- Popular tags:
software,
networking,
hardware,
security,
it management
-
linux
- Popular tags:
software,
windows,
networking,
hardware,
security
-
it management
- Popular tags:
networking,
windows,
software,
security,
hardware
-
career
- Popular tags:
it management,
networking,
software,
windows,
feedback
-
security
- Popular tags:
networking,
windows,
software,
it management,
hardware
-
off-topic
- Popular tags:
software,
windows,
hardware,
feedback,
networking
-
feedback
- Popular tags:
software,
windows,
hardware,
networking,
it management
-
project management
- Popular tags:
it management,
software,
networking,
windows,
programming
Not again...Cactus Pete | 04/23/2004 @ 02:57 PM (PDT)
