I just finished reading a book called The Discoverers

by Daniel Boorstin. It chronicles history around human discovery,

including such things as the development of the clock, calendars, and

the ways we went about making some major discoveries that changed the

course of humanity. It’s one of those books that get you to thinking

“Just how did we get to where we are?”

That got me to thinking about computers in general. Just how did work

get done before computers? I’m old enough to remember the days of DOS

before Windows took over the planet. But at the same time, I’m too

young to know how general business got done without word processors,

spreadsheets, databases, and everything else that we take for granted

today.

It makes looking at old TV shows and movies interesting. As much fun as

it is to see old cars go by in such things, you look at the office

setting and notice what’s missing as well. No PCs. Certainly no cell

phones or PDAs.

So what were the ‘Good Old Days’ like? I’m sure it wasn’t quite like

The Flintstones, but a reminder would be pretty interesting.