Article View: alt.folklore.computers
Article #621327Re: Old word processors
From: Andreas Kohlbach
Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2018 20:43
Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2018 20:43
42 lines
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3746 bytes
On Sat, 17 Mar 2018 23:16:45 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote: > > On 2018-03-17 22:13, Andreas Kohlbach wrote: >> On Sat, 17 Mar 2018 12:56:32 -0700 (PDT), hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >>> >>> Not sure of your question. The IBM MT/ST and MC/ST was integrated >>> with a Selectric typewriter which provided the keyboard and 'printer'. >>> As others mentioned, they were word processors. >> >> I think I understand a word processor is something you edit a text. It >> assists you by wrapping text and allow modification of characters, like >> bold. Only *after* you are done editing you would print it out or save it >> to a file. You could move paragraphs around and often do mail >> merge. Things a Selectric could not do. >> >> The Selectric did not (for my knowledge) had a display. Even if it might >> had "write ahead" you could not see what you wrote until it was printed >> on paper. If you made a mistake it was too late. Because of that >> typewriters soon vanished after word processors were available in the >> late 70s to early 80s. >> >> Which again raises the question: if word processors were around before >> the 70s, why didn't they supersede typewriters in offices already? > > Cost. > > You needed a good printer plus a computer, so not cheap at that time. > And also you needed to train the typist on using a computer and the > software. Of course before the 80s word processors would only exist in large enterprises. They had one mainframe and a few printers, while the typists would sit on dumb and relatively cheap terminals. Should not take long to train a typist for the new technology. The advantages of editing on a CRT over a "direct printout" like with typewriters should have been clear since the 60s already. -- Andreas My random toughts and comments https://news-commentaries.blogspot.com/
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From: Andreas Kohlbach <a...@spamfence.net>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Old word processors
Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2018 16:43:59 -0400
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