They weren’t always around, and like most things, office products were born out of the same innovative spirit that brought the industrial revolution.

I present Office Wonders on Modern Marvels:

Writing Implements:

I can’t imagine life without pencils and pens, or hi-liters…or markers.

Scotch Tape:

We have multiple rolls of Scotch tape at home and at the office. How did people live without it?

Paper Fasteners:

I guess there wasn’t as much need for paper clips, etc., until there was a lot more paper. The industrial revolution spawned the large increase in paperwork, something we are still trying to reduce.

Copy Machines

It’s hilarious that the Harvard Business School’s research determined there was no real market for the Xerox machine. Then Xerox successfully rented and then sold tens of thousands of the machines when they became available.

So much for market research. It’s not always accurate. Sometimes people have to use something for a little while before they see just how useful it is. I can’t imagine life without FedEx Kinko’s and copiers.

Typewriters

When I was in college, we typed our papers with typewriters. Taking typing class in high school provided a much-needed skill we would need. I didn’t imagine I would be typing most all day every day, not on a typewriter, but on a computer keyboard. My typing teacher would be pleased that my speed is above 85 words/minute. When I finished typing class 33 years ago, my speed was 34 words/minute.

Do any of you still have a typewriter in your house? Perhaps a parent used one in college? Ask and look around. They’re still fantastic for envelopes when your printer’s envelope function gets jammed.

Technorati Tags: hi-liters, History Channel, markers, Modern Marvels, office wonders, pencils, pens, photocopier, typewriter

I remember the days of card readers (man, were those boxes of cards heavy to carry around) and mainframe computers, and learning languages like FORTRAN and COBOL. Now we use HTML, PHP and CSS.

Actually, we don’t have to use programming languages. Developers use them to create applications with graphical user interfaces and intuitive logic so we the users can pull up a “write” window on a WordPress blog and start typing. When we’re done, we press “publish” and we have a new blog post with pictures, sound, and video if we choose, and everything is managed for us.

We don’t have to understand the programming language to operate a simple blog. Most of us learn enough about them to add extra functionality to our blogs, but it isn’t required. As time has gone on, the need to know how to edit the programming templates is less frequent as developers write WordPress plugins instead of making us cut and paste code.

What are your thoughts on the origins of the internet? Where do you think it will be in the next 50 years? As dependent on the internet as I am today, I can only imagine it getting smarter and more integrated into our daily lives. Perhaps one day it will be a part of our physical bodies.

Technorati Tags: internet in the future, internet origin