It's Selectric! Ibm's Classic Typewriter Turns 50

#1 PCWorld

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 07:47 AM

Post your comments for It's Selectric! IBM's Classic Typewriter Turns 50 here

#2 databaseben

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 10:41 AM

it's 50th anniversary?

shouldn't it be the 15th year since it kicked the bucket?

i thought it became instinct between win95 win me after the invention of desktop publishing.

#3 RabidWolf

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 03:45 PM

After a manual typewriter, a Selectric was sweet. Wish I had one - Used several for tax forms, etc...

#4 jrbales

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 07:02 PM

I remember in 1972 our typing class had one IBM Selectric, the rest being the old fashioned manual typewriters. It was always a treat to get the Selectric. My typing speed would always take off on that typewriter. Great design, great to use!

#5 rarisohn

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Posted 30 July 2011 - 03:06 AM

A military court reporter for more years than I like to admit, this was my desktop companion and best friend. Then they handed us computers! Ah. nostalgia!

#6 A41202813

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Posted 30 July 2011 - 09:32 AM

It Would Of Been Nice To Take A Closer Picture Of The Keyboard Itself.

It Was 'QWERTY', Right ?

#7 JamesEvens

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Posted 01 August 2011 - 06:44 PM

Definitely takes me back to school. Front row was electric typewriters: IBM. We rotated around the room so that everyone had a chance to use the electric typewriter at least once per quarter. In college and later in the Army these were the standard. Once got saddled with an Italian made typewriter/word-processor, hated it, any time a mistake was made and you used the correction feature the typing ribbon would advance. Didn't realize that IBM was the one-time owner of Lexmark: the Lexmark printers I've owned were after the brand was sold.
Also, don't write off the significance of the typewriter today. Say you get a paper form in the mail that has to get filled out. What is easier to do? Scan it and use a series of text boxes or other methods of lining up the fields or popping the form in a typewriter?