word processor history -- interesting article
Chuck Guzis
cclist at sydex.com
Fri Jul 8 16:00:54 CDT 2016
On 07/08/2016 01:42 PM, Fred Cisin wrote:
> And, as I mentioned previously, it was quite common for secretaries
> moonlighting as typists to bring work in and use them after-hours.
> (sometimes with tacit approval from the boss! My boss gave me
> after-hours access to use 026 punches, ('course I left them cleaner
> than when I started, with emptied bins, refilled card supply, jams
> cleared from down punches, etc.))
Another thing that's forgotten is the stratification of tasks back in
those days. Keypunching one's own code was frowned upon as a waste of
valuable technical time; there were lower-paid keypunch operators to do
that.
Similarly, having a typewriter in one's office was also frowned upon, as
there were secretaries to do that sort of work.
I had (and still have) miserable handwriting (both script and block
lettering), so I at least had a plausible excuse for doing my own
key-wrangling. But I had to put up with a considerable fog of official
disapproval.
--Chuck
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