For all of the efforts of traditional/electric typewriter folks to bring their traditional machinery forward into the Twentieth Century, the die was cast as soon as the computer possessed both a display screen and memory to buffer the output. Even with the crude "Tag and Edit" system used in the early machines (Osborn, anyone? I've hefted machine guns that were more portable, but the editing made it all worthwhile), the word processor route was head and shoulders above what they enabled on the typewriters.
My Olivetti portable in the storage unit is a very capable wheelwriter, with some buffering capacity, but I never was able to type slow enough to use it, always overrunning the buffer. It was fun to watch the wheel type the characters, however - so distracting that it led to making mistakes.
After some early dalliance with Apple ][ machines and the Osborne, the advent of the Macintosh system was ll that it took to kill all other systems of writing for me (including regular typing and handwriting). Once the true laptops and portable printers came along, it was Katie bar the door.
My prior employment was as an investigator for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and I spent about 70% of my time investigating fatalities and catastrophy events. As these rely not only on physical evidence but also on witness testimony, extensive witness statements were part and parcel of the job.
Witness statements can be cumbersome to create. First, you interview the witness to draw out their story, then you rough out the statement, and then you construct the final version in writing for them to sign. Errors or revisions make the whole process even more time consuming (and hand cramping in the bargain).
Not so with the computer/printer combination. Notes go in in outline form, sentences get constructed and revised, the final product gets reviewed and revised as needed, and it's print, sign and witness, all in one go. I could conduct seven to eight interviews and statement signings, all in the time that it took my fellow employees to take one.
When I moved up in the world, I moved heaven and earth to a ) sort out the good investigators under my command, and b ) to provide them with the same setup. Our unit's productivity soared - good for them and good for me. Of course, the fact that we lived and worked in Catastrophe City (Houston TX) made it all necessary. But, the computer/typing trained/portable printer/capable interviewer combination was the first of its kind in the nation. And, it only cost a thousand bucks a head.
Now that I'm retired (no more performance reviews to write, no more death and destruction to review), it's not as critical. But, it still works well.
Oh, and my Olivetti is a neat looking machine - Italian design and all of that. Too bad it can't really edit what gets typed...
My Olivetti portable in the storage unit is a very capable wheelwriter, with some buffering capacity, but I never was able to type slow enough to use it, always overrunning the buffer. It was fun to watch the wheel type the characters, however - so distracting that it led to making mistakes.
After some early dalliance with Apple ][ machines and the Osborne, the advent of the Macintosh system was ll that it took to kill all other systems of writing for me (including regular typing and handwriting). Once the true laptops and portable printers came along, it was Katie bar the door.
My prior employment was as an investigator for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and I spent about 70% of my time investigating fatalities and catastrophy events. As these rely not only on physical evidence but also on witness testimony, extensive witness statements were part and parcel of the job.
Witness statements can be cumbersome to create. First, you interview the witness to draw out their story, then you rough out the statement, and then you construct the final version in writing for them to sign. Errors or revisions make the whole process even more time consuming (and hand cramping in the bargain).
Not so with the computer/printer combination. Notes go in in outline form, sentences get constructed and revised, the final product gets reviewed and revised as needed, and it's print, sign and witness, all in one go. I could conduct seven to eight interviews and statement signings, all in the time that it took my fellow employees to take one.
When I moved up in the world, I moved heaven and earth to a ) sort out the good investigators under my command, and b ) to provide them with the same setup. Our unit's productivity soared - good for them and good for me. Of course, the fact that we lived and worked in Catastrophe City (Houston TX) made it all necessary. But, the computer/typing trained/portable printer/capable interviewer combination was the first of its kind in the nation. And, it only cost a thousand bucks a head.
Now that I'm retired (no more performance reviews to write, no more death and destruction to review), it's not as critical. But, it still works well.
Oh, and my Olivetti is a neat looking machine - Italian design and all of that. Too bad it can't really edit what gets typed...