What was being a computer user or programmer like… in the early 1960s?

Let’s take a quick stroll back to November of 1961, by way of the oldest computer-specific magazine, “Datamation”.

John F Kennedy was President. “Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean topped the music charts. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” ruled the theatrical box office.

And computers were… big.

Remember when the various parts of a computer filled an entire room? Yeah. Those were fun times.

Though, not all computers filled an entire room. Take the Packard Bell 250…

That Packard Bell bad boy could hold 16,000 words (at 22 bits each) and run 40,000 calculations per second. And look at it! Only the size of a small bookshelf!

Cue manly grunting noise.

Note that there's no "monitor" or display on this computer.  The output was printed on paper via the Friden Flexowriter.

The Flexowriter (like many other consoles of the time) was, essentially, an electronic typewriter... which could be driven by both a connected computer, or via paper tape.  (In addition to an actual person typing on the keys, of course).

Oh!  And sending data to remote computers, in 1961, was becoming a thing!

1200 bps! Blistering speed!

But you don’t buy the “DATA-PHONE” (what Bell called a “Modem” back then)… you rented it, by the month, from Ma Bell.

Speaking of moving data around… just check out the state of the art in punch paper tape reading!

350 character per second read rate!

“Multi-colored tapes can be read interchangeably without the need of bias adjustments.”

 

“Specially designed light guide in the reading heat eliminate dirt collecting holes.”

No bias adjustments! No dirt collecting holes! The future is now!

And check out that advertisement for open positions at the top! Those early computer magazines are filled to the brim with companies practically begging people to apply for jobs. They needed programmers. Stat.

Check out this. A full page ad, near the front of the magazine, searching for applicants.

Back then you didn’t see companies looking for this language, or that framework… they were looking for simple things, like:

“Candidates must be strong technically, but primarily interested in systems applications, as the project areas involve a great deal more than just computers or hardware.”

This was code for “not just a hardware engineer… we want people who are interested in programming software.”

That was kind of a novel thing at that time.

Case in point:

“Software is a new and important addition to the jargon of computer users and builders. It refers to the automatic programming aids that simplify the task of telling the computer hardware how to do its job. The importance of software lies in the fact that programming a computer can be an arduous, time-consuming and costly operation and the quality of automatic programming aids ahs become virtually as important as equipment specifications in evaluating the total capability of a data processing system”

The idea of “ready to use” software was, truly, an amazing thing. Something that not every computer manufacturer or user really took advantage of.

Which… looking at it from the modern day seems wild and zany. But it’s how things were back in 1961.

I highly recommend reading the entire November, 1961 issue of Datamation. It is a wild trip into computing history.

When you think of “Word Processor bundled with Windows”… what springs to mind?

Wordpad? Notepad? How about Word or Works?

Well, in Ye Olden Times (tm), the first word processing software to ship for Microsoft Windows was… Microsoft Write. A simple, extremely lightweight word processor that (at least in earlier versions) used the .WRI file type (a proprietary file format that contained basic styling information).

Let’s go on a quick tour through every single version of Microsoft Write to ever be released... including versions for Mac and Atari.

Seriously.

1985 - Microsoft Write for Windows 1.0

That, right there, is the beginning of Microsoft Write -- back on the very first version of Windows.

To start with: That Windows 1.0 interface. Man. I tell ya. Makes my eyes bleed every time I see it.

But also... this was a surprisingly capable piece of software... without an ounce of bloat.  Almost UNIX-like in design: Simple and to the point.  Yet capable.

1987 - Microsoft Write for Macintosh

Microsoft Write for Macintosh was released in 1987… and wasn’t actually Microsoft Write… per se. It was the original version of Microsoft Word… tweaked. And stripped down to a bare-bones feature set.

It was, for a time, the “cheap little brother” of Microsoft Word. Didn’t sell great and wasn’t long for this world.

1987 - Microsoft Write for Windows 2.0

New version of Windows gets a new version of Write!

But, really, not much changed in Write for Windows 2.0. Same menu structure and features.

1988 - Microsoft Write for Atari ST

Now here’s something I bet most people aren’t familiar with!

Did you know that "Microsoft Write" was developed and released… for the Atari ST?

It’s true! However, it was not based (in any way) on the code base of Write for Windows 1.0. In fact, it was a ported, & re-branded version of the very first “Microsoft Word” release for the Macintosh!

And, while it was released in 1988.. it was actually originally announced back in 1986. There’s a (not too glowing) review of it in a 1988 issue of Start Magazine that I found highly entertaining.

“Despite its lengthy gestation, Write is a disappointment. It has fewer bugs than WordPerfect, but mostly because it has fewer features. It also takes a non-standard approach to both word processing and the ST, the latter probably due to its Macintosh ancestry. Unofficial but reliable word from Atari sources is that Write will not be updated or enhanced. For better or worse, what we have now is the final version.”

No updates or new versions of Microsoft Write for Atari ST were ever released. It was, essentially, dead on arrival.

1990 - Microsoft Write for Windows 3.0

Once again, very little change to Microsoft Write with the release of Windows 3.0. Though there is a new “Help” menu now. So that’s nice.

1992 - Microsoft Write for Windows 3.1

Starting with Windows 3.1, Write has the same UI but is a bit more powerful… in that it can handle OLE (Object Linking and Embedding).

1995 - Microsoft Write for Windows NT 3.51

Which brings us to the final version of Microsoft Write to ever be released.

It was bundled with Windows NT 3.51 — which, as it happens, is the final version of Windows NT to include the older “Windows 3.x style” program manager.

In future versions of Windows, Microsoft would continue to include a “write.exe” that simply pointed to the new “Wordpad” word processor, which took the place of Write starting with Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0.

All-in-all, Microsoft Write was a lightweight, but capable, word processor. One that served Microsoft Windows users well until it was replaced by Wordpad in the mid 1990s.

The fact that there was a Mac and Atari ST version is just an added, and highly amusing, bonus.

From now through July 4th, 2024, The Lunduke Journal is running a sale to support the last bastion of truly independent Tech Journalism.

• $10 off a Standard Annual Subscription

• $100 off a Lifetime Subscription

All the details are on the Subscription page.

Every penny from the Tech Freedom Sale will make a huge difference — your subscription will allow The Lunduke Journal to…

• Stay 100% Advertisement Free.

• Stay 100% Big Tech Free.

• Continue publishing the news and stories that no other Tech News outlet is willing (or able) to cover.

• Fully fund the servers and resources of The Lunduke Computer Operating System project.

From publishing leaked documents exposing Big Tech… to deeply researched reports on the major Tech Foundations… No other outlet does what The Lunduke Journal does.

Go to the Subscription page of The Lunduke Journal. Pick the subscription type that makes sense to you. Keep independent, Big-Tech-free Tech Journalism alive.

Note: Will be posting very few reminders of this sale here on Locals.  This sale is being intentionally running for a full week in order to make it easier to get in front of people on other (non-Locals) platforms.

-Lunduke