USEFULNESS/UTILITY

"But what ... is it good for?"
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968 commenting on the microchip.

"I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them."
Isaac Asimov

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."
Pablo Picasso

"Want to make your computer go really fast? Throw it out the window."
Unknown

"To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer."
Farmers' Almanac, 1978

"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done."
Andy Rooney

"An old puzzle asks how a barometer can be used to measure the height of a building. Answers range from dropping the instrument from the top and measuring the time of its fall to giving it to the building's superintendent in return for a look at the plans. A modern version of the puzzle asks how a personal computer can balance a checkbook. An elegant solution is to sell the machine and deposit the money."
Jon Bentley

"The modern computer is capable of answering, in a matter of seconds, mathematical questions that would take millions of years for a human being to answer (even longer if he stopped for lunch). How does the computer do this? Simple. It makes everything up. It knows full well you're not going to waste millions of years checking up on it. So you should never use computers for anything really important, such as balancing your personal checkbook. But they're fine for corporate use."
Unknown

"In a few minutes a computer can make a mistake so great that it would have taken many men many months to equal it."
Unknown