A Sea Change in Computing

摘要

I t's been a wild ride since June 1977 when the Apple Ⅱ was released and VisiCalc launched the spreadsheet revolution. Business information, from accounting to job costing and estimating, is no longer produced by hand. Maintenance work orders are automatically generated right on schedule, and data bases have replaced the old drawer files we used for machine histories. It is a different world: Complex and efficient systems are implemented using competent software, and, for better or for worse, we no longer have the flexibility to do it "my way" using pencil and paper.