
The Executive Computer (1985) - nirvanis
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/08/business/the-executive-computer.html
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ghaff
Quite the blast from the past although it doesn't quite square with my
recollections of the time. While the LCD screens of the time were pretty
awful, I'm not sure I agree that "The word processing and spreadsheet packages
commonly available for them are intended to accomplish tasks to which laptop
computers are simply not well suited." Grey-on-grey LCD notwithstanding, a
system like the DG/One was as suited to spreadsheets or word processing as a
desktop.

My memory is that price was really the big issue. Laptops--as opposed to
luggables--carried a big premium over desktop systems that were already (by
today's standards) pretty pricey. It's probably also worth noting that most
business travelers wouldn't have been able to connect to company systems from
the road (and many wouldn't have had email anyway) so the utility of traveling
with a computer in 1985 would have been pretty limited in most cases.

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stan_rogers
It's a matter of how you read that sentence, really - the apparently-intended
meaning is that most of the software (word processing and spreadsheets) are
intended to "accomplish tasks", something that the laptop of the day was ill-
suited for (mostly because of the price), rather than to assist decision-
making and so forth. The question then becomes "what good is an expensive
'executive computer' that only does what my secretary and Murray in Accounting
need to do?"

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ghaff
Sorta disagree. The quoted paragraph seems to imply that there is something
unique about laptops that make them unsuitable:

"Software is the real weak spot for laptops. If the machines were merely too
expensive, especially in view of their limited display, they would still sell
if they served an unbeatable function. But for that to be the case, special
software would be needed. The word processing and spreadsheet packages
commonly available for them are intended to accomplish tasks to which laptop
computers are simply not well suited."

That said, that particular period of time was one when a lot of higher-level
executives didn't use PCs--or even some sort of minicomputer-based office
automation system--while the rank-and-file certainly did. In the late 80s,
even at technology company, it wasn't uncommon for execs to have admins print
out emails that they would write answers to by hand--which were them typed in
and sent out by the admins.

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tobych
I love all those phone numbers.

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yellowapple
They're the 1980's equivalent to hyperlinking to corporate webpages or Twitter
feeds (or, often, some stock market information) in present-day news articles.
It's amazing how things change so much yet so little all at the same time.

