Talk:Thomas J. Watson

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Contents 1 Misquote 2 NCR 3 TWATSON? 4 When did he cut ties with the Nazis? 5 IBM and the Holocaust

[edit] Misquote

Watson's (mis)quote seems to have already appeared in

 Chris Morgan and David Langford, Facts and Fallacies: 
      A Book of Definitive Mistakes and Misguided Predictions, 
 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Toronto, 1981, 
 p. 44.

Can anyone confirm this?

According to German Wikipedia:

Im "DER SPIEGEL" vom 26. Mai 1965 im Artikel "Elektronenroboter in Deutschland" steht auf Seite 59: "...IBM-Chef Thomas Watson hatte zunächst von neuen Geräten nichts wissen wollen. Als in den frühen fünfziger Jahren die ersten Rechenungetüme für kommerzielle Nutzung auftauchten, die mit ihren Tausenden von Röhren ganze Zimmerfluchten füllten und unerträgliche Hitze entwickelten, schätzte Watson den Bedarf der US-Wirtschaft auf höchstens fünf Stück..."

The German magazine "DER SPIEGEL" wrote on 26th may 1965 in the article "Electron robots in Germany": "IBM boss Thomas Watson at first didn't want to hear anything of new devices. When the first computing monsters for commercial use appeared in the early fifties, filling entire sets of rooms with thousands of tubes and developing unbearable heat, Watson estimated the requirements of the US economy to be at most five units."

--84.115.129.76 (talk) 11:48, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] NCR

this section reads so badly it's almost nonsensical. Also, it raises points that are not finalised make it confusing. Artlondon 22:31, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] TWATSON?

Does this section-header mean anything? I mean... it's hilarious, but doesn't seem to have much to do with the discussion contained. 134.117.166.186 21:24, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

That text was introduced by edit: Revision as of 19:24, 30 October 2007. I'll click undo. tooold 22:27, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] When did he cut ties with the Nazis?

After the outbreak of The Second World War - does someone have a date here? I'm guessing it's the US idea of the Second World War, i.e. 1941, rather than 1939. I can still hear my father grumbling about how slow the Americans were to join the war :). --Chriswaterguy talk 22:33, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] IBM and the Holocaust

I don't think that the remarks cited from IBM and the Holocaust are particularly neutral in this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.144.196.36 (talk) 19:21, 11 April 2008 (UTC)