Concerning A review of office and travel technology and policy progress 1970 - present

Jim 1964 - West Point had one computer for faculty and students. It took up a whole room. Input was by punched cards you did yourself in a language one step up from machine language. You left your cards with the operator who ran them in the order received. You got results a day later. I wrote and ran about three programs during a semester course. None of them ran correctly the first time as I recall. We learned how a computer worked. Memory was very small metal donuts in a box array. The donuts held or released a magnetic field for zeros and ones. A K&E log-log duplex slide rule was the engineer's weapon of choice. 1975 - The first TI-50 calculator was bought for $125 in the Union Camp Savannah Engineering Dept. An HP with several more features was $395. We had and used the original 1930s engineering drawings of the mill. Blue prints were blue. 1978 - UC Savannah - We removed a 12 inch gate valve with a large German Swastika in the casting - obviously bought and installed before WW II. Regressing - 1964 - I could understand & explain almost all technology associated with my work. Today - Just the technology of computer memory is beyond the scope of most professional's knowledge, unless of course you design or manufacture computer memory. Peace Gene Canavan Prattville, AL USA --- Jim, Thanks for the memories and technology review highlights. I remember the first HP calculator someone at SDWarren Research bought for about $700, and 3-4 years later one with comparable features was $20 or so. Also, when Microsoft Windows came out, our systems engineers were so excited. You chose not to mention the frustrations of dealing with new or upgraded software, which seems inescapable, especially when the previous version was not "broken". Perhaps most of that is best left unsaid. Bill LaVallee S.D. Warren and Jefferson Smurfit retiree USA ### Have a comment? Send your email to jthompson@cellulosecommunity.net. Please indicate if we can use your name if we publish your letter.