Word processing in an M.I.S environment

Abstract

A funny thing happened on the way to the “Office of the Future” - WP type products (the step-children of the technology) have taken the lead in “Extending the Human Resource” by the use of computing machinery for the support of office processes. One might mistake the previous statement for an extravagant claim. However, a quick review of some recent history will sustain my case: One of the most awesome M.I.S. environments in existence is IBM. For a long time their office products operation was treated with disdain. The group made money - but, the place to be was DP! Every cliche applicable to the aloftness and mystery of DP processes was fostered by this group. Users, in terms of an organization's DP people, ate it up and enjoyed cloaking themselves in the mystique of DP. Then came word processing. And quiet as it was kept - word processing machines were and are computing machines. The software developed for a word processor was and is simply another program - generally better written than most - designed to permit a user to manipulate text. At first, the WP product was very rigid and limited with the idea being “those WP folks can't handle anything else”. The side effect in this KISS approach was the production of user - friendly software before it became fashionable.