Are These the Top 25 Tech Quotes of All Time?

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Are These the Top 25 Tech Quotes of All Time?



It's been perhaps than a quarter-century since the modern technology industry became so ubiquitous in our personal lives, but that's more than enough time for it to garner up some memorable quotes from the wisdom of Steve Jobs to the not-quite-wisdom of Senator Ted Stevens.

It's a safe bet that if you haven't heard of all of these 25 quotes [http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=22649211], you've at least heard of most of them - if not, you must have been living in a very nice cave for the past 15 years. These quotes are memorable, popular to reference (or make fun of), and cover quite a wide range of tones and "reasons why they're famous."

There's pithy wisdom like Steve Jobs' "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?" question to then-Pepsi CEO John Sculley, and there's hilarious-in-hindsight miscalculations such as minicomputer company DEC founder Kevin Olson's prediction that "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home." And then there's Senator Ted Stevens' famous "series of tubes," but that's neither here nor there.

Apple guru Jobs is the most quoted person on the list with three entries, followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former President George W. Bush with two apiece.

I'm not sure that the #1 quote deserves its spot, though by the "Googleosity" metric used by the folks who compiled the list at PC World [http://www.pcworld.com/?tk=synd_msn] it's far and away the most popular entry there is. Sure, it should be on there, but I'm not sure if it warrants the top spot.

What do you think? Should one of the others have been #1 instead?

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Distorted Stu

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Sep 22, 2009
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The internet is a series of tubes made me lol hard.
I havnt heard alot of these, twas a good read through!

The last 5 are big internet memes.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Interesting...I did recognise alot of them (Some I didnt), but, I would pretty much agree that they all have there distingished marks...

As for the number 1, im not sure. It does fit the bill as much as anything else, but, prehaps in the top 5? As for the top space I think No.13 might have fit better.
 

Gildan Bladeborn

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Aug 11, 2009
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The ones I didn't recognize all had the distinction of not really being particularly memorable quotes - "One more thing..."? So Mr. Jobs says that a lot apparently - so do a lot of people, but they probably aren't quoting him, and I defy even the most hardcore Apple fanatics to recognize somebody's use of that 'quote' without extensive visual aids.

And don't even get me started on Balmer chanting things making the list - that is hardly the most memorable thing he's said and frankly everything he does has the same ridiculous level of enthusiasm.
 

Starke

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Mar 6, 2008
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Honestly, given their metric, I'm just glad Ceiling Cat is Watching You Masturbate (or another lolz cat quote) didn't make #1.
 

stonethered

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Mar 3, 2009
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So that's who all my base are belong to.

All this time I thought it had to do with hacking.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Yeah but those aren't quotes you can really live by.
I want something like this:

"Never trust a computer you [/i]can't[/i] throw out a window"

Now that is a good quote.
 

Lvl 64 Klutz

Crowsplosion!
Apr 8, 2008
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I had no idea "the internets/interwebs" actually originated from a Bush quote. Knowledge is power!
 

Captain Pancake

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May 20, 2009
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God, Bush was really retarded...

And now I know where that "All your base are belongs to us" thing comes from!
 

Cherry Cola

Your daddy, your Rock'n'Rolla
Jun 26, 2009
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I saw "One more thing..." should be number 1. Or at least in the top 5. I love Steve Jobs.
 

Nova5

Interceptor
Sep 5, 2009
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Oh, man, the Zero Wing reference. When I first played that thing on an emulator... God, I nearly shit my pants laughing.

Awesome list; going to have to save this to the ol' HDD somewhere.
 

clairedelune

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Oct 9, 2006
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As soon as I saw the title of the post I thought of all your base are belong to us. I recognized about half of them. Have I been living under a rock, then?
 

300lb. Samoan

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Mar 25, 2009
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great read! wasn't familiar with most of the early quotes, and i've never even heard #5 (although the underlying truth of it is undeniable). it's kind of lame that "all your base" was even considered, but as a tribute to the meme-culture the internet spawned it was the most fitting entry. more appropriate for its foreshadowing than anything 4chan or lolcats has given us.
 

Ancientgamer

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Jan 16, 2009
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well, the list had a hideously inappropriate political bias, but other than that I don't think I can really disagree with anything on it. (though I didn't recognize some of the first ones.
 

Gongon

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Sep 8, 2009
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I find the #1 to be a perfect representation of the Internet. A place where tiny forgettable things get blown out of proportions and the average attention span seems less than this paragraph. Mind you, I wouldn't much like it without it.