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Metatron2008
You're it
Premium Member
join:2008-09-02
united state

2 recommendations

Metatron2008 to camper

Premium Member

to camper

Re: All that you would ever need...

Okay, this farce was '640k ought to be enough for anybody'. And Bill Gates didn't say it.

Supposedly, this was at a show in 1981 where the initial intel 8088 (8/16 bit) machine was announced. The ram limit was set for 640k, although the earlier limit for 8 bit machines was 64k.

Nobody has ever found proof that Bill Gates said it, and he himself always denied it.
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

I think that it's funny how this always comes about - person quotes this possible quote, someone else comes along and corrects, conversation continues.

I think it needs a term, kind of like "Godwin's Law" - should be the "Gates' Law"

Probably happens every few years, "nobody will need more than 'x' RAM" - "x" being equal to the max amount commonly able to be used on majority of PC's of the time, currently in the range of 16-32GB I'd say. Server side, let's go with 2TB. After all, nobody would need more than that, now would they?
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry to Metatron2008

Premium Member

to Metatron2008
You don't know if he said it or not. James E. Fawcette, in 1985, claims he said something similar to that, presumably around 1980. Bill Gates didn't deny it until around 1996 when the quote would have made him look dumb. So at this point in time we can only say he might have said that but that he denies it.

Incidentally, Neil Armstrong also denies the official version of his first words on the moon because they made him look dumb.