RAND Corporation's
1954 design for a home computer

Scientists from RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a "home computer" could look in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work (it appears that the 'mouse' replaced the steering wheel, for instance), but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use.

[Yup, it's a hoax. Thanks to FCPS Web Manager Pete Koutoulas for this contribution - I noticed it sitting on his bulletin board. Quoted from Snopes.com: "...Although the photograph displayed could represent what some people in the early 1950s contemplated a "home computer" might look like (based on the technology of the day)...the picture is actually an entry submitted to an image modification competition, taken from an original photo of a submarine maneuvering room console found on U.S. Navy web site, 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)..." Here's the whole URL: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp]