old now...doh!

That, Alan, was a quote from a man by the name of William Gates :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Just goes to show that he doesn't know what he's talking about, then.

That, Alan, was a quote from a man by the name of William Gates

I hate to ruin a good rumor, but that quote was actually attributed to IBM founder Thomas Watson regarding the market for computers (not just PCs). And as it turns out, that quote appears to be a myth as well:

Famous misquote

Although Watson is well known for his alleged 1943 statement: "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers," there is no evidence he ever made it. The author Kevin Maney tried to find the origin of the quote, but has been unable to locate any speeches or documents ofWatson's that contain this, nor are the words present in any contemporary articles about IBM. The earliest known citation is from 1986 on Usenet in the signature of a poster from Convex Computer Corporation as "I think there is a world market for about five computers" — Remark attributed to Thomas J. Watson (Chairman of the Board of International Business Machines), 1943.

http://www.answers.com/topic/thomas-j-watson

I hate to ruin a good ruin of a good rumour, but I was referring to the quote that no pc would ever need more than 640Kb of memory - NOT the world market for PCs 8)

Ah, well. It was a good rumour whilst it lasted.

Technology moves on. My parents' first record player was an old radiogram. Wooden cabinet, lift up lid, valves. Now I have a hi-fi attached to my PC and a CD player on the desk.

You've got to hand it to those old guys - using antique kit they still managed to get their stuff recorded and out to a wider market. And it sounded good.

A :-)

I hate to ruin a good ruin of a good rumour, but I was referring to the quote that no pc would ever need more than 640Kb of memory - NOT the world market for PCs 8)

I can't even follow a simple forum thread. I must be getting old now...doh!

No i don't remember those floppys, i guess eighteen years is still young. lol. yeah it is
I do remember getting our first computer, it was an Appple mac Series 2. it had a tiny 9 inch screen and so small
amount of memory i cant remember. But it was brand new and top of the line, and i think thier starting to be worthsomething again!! :)

My first computer was a Compaq portable that looked like a small suitcase (hence the corporate name takeoff on the word "compact"). It was the very first IBM clone and had a small green CRT, dual 5-1/4" floppies (one for the O/S and programs, the other for your data) and the keyboard snapped over them for carrying. Can you imagine an entire operating system fitting on a 1.25MB floppy?

I got rid of it maybe six or seven years ago, but wish I'd kept it because of its historical significance. Some original specs:

Intel 8088 4.7 MHz processor
264Kb Ram
Hard drive - none
Original selling price: ~ $3,000 (I got mine used for far less)

Hey dogbite, I missed your birthday, but congratulations!

Have you figured up what 55 is in dog years? :lol:

That said records do have better sound quality than their digital counterparts because a needle can record an extremely tiny groove in the record whereas the detail of a digital recording is limited...

I always compare it to the difference between a digital and an analog dial watch. A digital watch always has gaps between each readout, no matter how fast it's reading out (the sample rate?), while the sweep hand on an analog watch covers an infinite spectrum of time. The same with digital and analog recordings.

Probably a good analogy - but if we are honest - do we hear it? (Or to compare: do the small amount we miss on a digital watch matter for our experience of time?) Well, it is *possible* to hear it with proper equipment (expensive hifi-set), a good listening position etc... LPs sound good, 'though I'm not sure if I'd voluntered for a blind-test...
I have (sadly) realised over the last years that mp3 files have more than sufficient sound quality the way I listen to music these days - in the car, in the background while reading newspaper, headset on the subway etc. I put on LPs far too seldom - it's so much easier to put the 5000 track mp3 collection on my file server on "random play" ...

Think maybe the greatest loss when/if LPs disappear is the format of the cover. You cant fit A4 pictures of John, Paul, George and Ringo into a CD cover, can you?

Dogbite: - missed your birthday, skiing with my family in the mountains, but contgratulations from me still!!
Lars

Haha, I, of course, remember record players. My parents had one, my neighbors parents had one. In fact, about 4-5 years ago, when I was a freshman in high school; my neighbors and I would scratch Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on the record player, of course ruining the album, but it was fun. I was thinking of buying a turntable for my apartment this year, but it never went through.