Re: the computer built to last 50 years

On 17/03/2025 23:30, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

On Mon, 17 Mar 2025 14:27:02 -0300, Salvador Mirzo wrote:
 

Each time I look at my Hermes Rocket typewriter (on the left in the
picture), I’m astonished by the fact that the thing looks pretty modern
and, after a few cleaning, works like a charm. The device is 75 years
old and is a very complex piece of technology with more than 2000 moving
parts. It’s still one of the best tools to focus on writing.

 Technology is here to adapt to our needs, we should not be adapting our
needs to the technology.
 People who are used to typewriters don’t notice the absence of features
they don’t provide.

The corollary is that those who were used to typists and typing pools were relatively concise in their writing. The in extremis version of this is where you see those wartime memos from Churchill or Roosevelt consisting of just a couple of paragraphs.

Think what an advance it was when Mike Nesmith’s
mother invented Tipp-Ex. Then the advances in digital technology allowed
the creation of specialist machines called “word processors”, with text
memories, macro keys and other advanced features. Just the ability to
preview a page of text on the screen before printing it out led to the
saving, not just of paper, but of time.

I agree with that but not the saving paper bit. The photocopier and the Wordprocessor's "print" button not only made life convenient but also made mistakes convenient. We've all heard of a person who printed 20 copies when only 2 were required or similar.
--
Bruce Horrocks
Hampshire, England