The ability to amplify by means of a semiconductor device can now be clearly seen as the foundation stone of modern electronics, but such clarity of vision was not generally evident in the years immediately following the invention of the transistor. That few should have predicted the future with accuracy is hardly remarkable, but what is of interest is that many seem to have viewed the new transistor only as a possible substitute for the old vacuum tube. Despite radical differences and new possibilities, many chose to see only the similarities between tube and transistor. In the present paper, we explore some of the origins and consequences of this attitude.