Here's the legend: at a computer trade show in 1981, Bill Gates supposedly uttered this statement, in defense of the just-introduced IBM PC's 640KB usable RAM limit: "640K ought to be enough for anybody."
The initial PC was based on the Intel 8088, which was a hybrid 8/16-bit processor — thus the reason for the 640KB memory limit. Though tiny by today's standards — 64-bit systems can support up to 128GB of memory — 640KB at that time was an order of magnitude larger than the 64KB limit that faced users of 8-bit computers, such as the
Apple II+ and the Commodore 64
(see more coverage on our "Bill Gates Moves On" page).
Even so, Gates' alleged statement looks like one of the most dogmatic, short-sighted comments ever, a verbal blunder perhaps topped only by Digital Equipment Corp. founder Ken Olsen's
1977 quip, "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home." (Olsen did actually say that, but he said later that the quote was taken out of context, and that he was referring not to PCs but to computers set up to control houses.)
In 1981, when the IBM PC was introduced, Bill Gates supposedly said that 640KB of memory "ought to be enough for anybody." The quote has followed him through the years, despite a lack of solid evidence that he actually said it.
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