It's worth mentioning that this story is prior to 1984, when So Long and Thanks for All The Fish was published. That also happens to be the year when the Mac came out, and Adams was an ardent Mac enthusiast -- indeed AFAIK he was the first person in all of Europe to buy a Mac. So as he transitioned off of a typewriter, one would presume that the strategy employed here would become a bit harder.
"When switched on for the first time, it was clear that the last user had little understanding of how to store files on the hard disk. The root directory contained hundreds of MacWrite documents. Scrolling through them was a pain and, as I have no interest in other people's private affairs, I selected the lot and deleted them. /.../
I started up MacWrite Pro and noticed that it was registered to "Douglas Adams, Serious Productions Ltd". I paid little attention to this as I had seen warez copies of Claris software where the registered user was Douglas Adams. I then started Claris Resolve, ignoring a warning dialog (mistake number two), and noted that this software was also registered to Douglas Adams. The copies of Claris Works 4.0 and Now Up-to-Date were registered to Jane Belson; I was unfamiliar with the name but a quick web search determined that she is Douglas Adams's widow."
