As a student summer vacation job in 1977, I typed in a novel for Steven Salter's wife using Salter's PDP11 and Runoff. (Not even proper roff if I remember, but the earlier simpler version).
Not claiming any firsts mind you. That was fairly late in the game as regards computerised typesetting, G On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 3:19 PM, Fred Cisin <[email protected]> wrote: > "FIRST"??!? > > On Wed, 6 Jul 2016, Evan Koblentz wrote: > >> All about some of the earliest people to write books using word >> processors. >> >> http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/06/how-to-write-a-history-of-writing-software/489173/?platform=hootsuite >> > > "The first person to write abook using a word processor" is essentially, > "who was the first consumer?". > It is directly analogous to "Who was the first person to drive a car?" > > Admittedly, the first person to use a word processor was probably typing > business letters and/or legal documents, which is what they were developed > for. > > > But, should we accept his example of the first? private purchaser of a > word processor, who had a SECRETARY typing? Before that, secretaries who > used word processors at work would moonlight typing manuscripts for people, > and often take them in to the office to use the handy hardware there. > Thus, if we take his example, we need to go back earlier to the first > manuscript typing typist who took it into the office to work on. > > So, shall we revise our question to: "Who was the first author to type it > himself using a word processor?" > > Then, we run into the most common flaw in ALL "FIRST" claims, of selecting > the first biggie, and ignoring all of the little guys. > Hardly ANY "FIRST" claims are valid for that reason. > Who built the first automobile? > Not only will we ignore the real first guy, because he didn't SUCCEED in > going into production, over the years, he will fade from history, and we > end up with a public who believe that Ford invented the car, Edison > invented the lightbulb, and Jobs invented the computer. > First driver was likely in 1768 (Cugnot), although others possibly before. > Do we Verbiet's Chinese car in 1672 that was too small for an adult? > Followed, with probably a few in between by deRivaz in 1807. > 1886 Benz made the first "production" automobile, but you have to wonder > how many were made before that that couldn't get off the ground in > production. > > > Jerry Pournelle was, indeed, an EARLY adopter, but NEVER "first". > But, he might qualify once we change our question to, "Who was the first > author to type into a word processor a PUBLISHED, nay "best seller", book?" > We will probably immediately rule out ("as irrelevant") theses, term > papers, etc. If it wasn't a "book", then we don't care. > Unpublished manuscripts? "irrelevant" > Published manuscripts from "vanity press"? "irrelevant" > Published manuscripts that never got successful distribution? "irrelevant" > > Yep, we are really talking about who wrote the first "best seller". > > "Mark Twain was the first author to use a typewriter" > Yeah, right. > Declaring him to be first is highly dubious. > Unless maybe the first company to make a typewriter give him a PRE-RELEASE > freebie, just for the "free ink" PR? > In that respect, Jerry Pournelle leads in a lot of other "firsts". > My trade show staff had standing orders, "get a cold beer into his hand, > and give him samples of everything that we're offering." > (Giving Dvorak an alpha-test of XenoCopy was a big mistake! We got free > ink about needing work.) > > > It would make far more sense, instead of looking at authors, and asking > about their tools, to INSTEAD, look at the tools, and see who were the > first purchasers. Just as you might for "first driver". > THAT leads us back to his example. > But, it also leads us to "which was the first commercially available word > processor?" > > I have little or no knowledge of early dedicated word processors. > So, in the canonical idiocy, I will simply dismiss all of those as > "irrelevant", even the 1970 time-sharing system that had a text editor!, > and stick with microcomputers. > > The first microcomputer word processing program that I was aware of was > Michael Shrayer's "Electric Pencil", but there were probably others before > that. > > Next step would be to look at Shrayer's (or previous) customer records and > ask, "Which of these customers was writing a book?" > > > "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" > The rooster. > > Word Processors and word processing software were developed because there > was a need. Admittedly, they were probably developed not for the need of > manuscript editing, but instead for the digital sweatshop of legal > documents and office correspondence. In which case, "Who was the first > (probably UNAUTHORIZED) person to do their personal manuscript on company > machines?" > > > MUCH later, I used "Electric Pencil", and then "Scripsit" on the Model 1 > TRS-80 to do the manuscript of my Honda book. the publisher then RE-typed > it into their Merganthaler. Do we consider it "irrelevant" if the word > processor was only used in pre-production? > > Since common practice was for publisher's editors to have manuscripts > re-typed with their changes, there is no way to know how many submitted > manuscripts had been written on word processors. > > I printed 80 column lines on 132 column paper. Centered for the editor, > to give him lots of room to scribble on, and flush left of the illustrator, > so that he had a big block of space to the right of the text to make early > sketches. Peter Aschwanden was in my opinion, the best automotive > illustrator in the business. > > > In the UC Berkeley School of Library And Information Studies (SLIS), in > the early 1990s, I was the first student to use a word processor for PhD > written exams. "Are you willing to publicly state that I willbe graded on > penmanship?" After one hostile prof made a big fuss about "how to > sanitize" a machine to keep me from smuggling in pre-written blocks of text > based on previously used questions, I told them to use a random machine > from the lab or outside, and remove the floppy drives. I said, "ANY > popular word processing program, but tell me which program 6 weeks in > advance, so that I can learn that program". We ended up using Windows > "WRITE". In spite of silliness about "you can't bring your jacket or > backpack into the room", they chose to leave the floppy drives in, and had > me save my answers to their floppies, for them to do the printing. (They > then added a header, messing up all of my planned page breaks) I can NOT > claim to be the "FIRST", despite UC Berkeley's claimed pre-eminence in all > things. I'm certain that other schools had been doing it for most of a > decade. > > > Of significan interest to me, is that in the 1980s, there were some > serious studies done on the impact on writing style of various systems. > Such as small (in terms of lines and characters per line) screens, such as > TRS80 and Apple tended to produce a choppier style, with a lot more > redundancy (ideas, sometimes entire sentences and paragraphs being repeated > on other pages). > Just like my writing this with 80 x 24. > Larger screens (more lines, not eyestrain issues) produced smoother > transitions, and generally better organization. > I'm not aware of newer serious studies on that. > > > -- > Grumpy Ol' Fred [email protected] > >
