Conning Tower
If you have any friends, you've probably gotten an e-mail containing the picture on the left, while being told that it was 1954 vision of a "home computer." Apparently, Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems, also got a copy. In fact, McNealy used it in his keynote address at the Oracle OpenWorld show, mocking the accuracy of this vision of the future, which, ostensibly, came from "Popular Mechanics." He did, however, question what the steering wheel might be used for. (Hey, who knew what a mouse was when I was 3 years old?)

Well, truth is, the picture is not from Popular Mechanics. It's not anyone's concept of the home computer of the future. It's a doctored picture of a nuclear submarine control room. The picture, as seen here, was submitted to an image modification contest, converted to grayscale, and modified to replace a modern display panel and TV screen with pictures of a decades-old teletype/printer and television (as well as to add the gray-suited man to the left-hand side of the photo).

So is McNealy a dolt? Nah... He's really in good company. Lotus founder Mitch Kapor posted the same photo to his blog in November, later noting his mistake.

There's just something about people who spend ALL their time in front of a computer.
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