I worked at one of the Laboratories at Ft. Belvoir, VA. As an early adapter I bought the first HP-35 calculator and later six computer controlled test systems for $1,069,000. ($5,898,00 in 2006 dollars) About 20 years ago I was assigned the job of fielding 35 Zenith 248 Personal Computes. The Zenith 248 had 640,000 bits of memory and a huge 20-megabyte hard disk.

I ordered the computers, color monitors, printers, training, software and an evaluation of the software I selected. When they were received we unpacked, loaded all software, set the computer and printers up. Each individual had received two days of classroom instructions on the software applications a few weeks before. Then I personally showed each individual how to turn the computer on and off. To start an application they were to press 1 for Microsoft Word, 2 for Harvard Graphics, 3 for Super Project and so on.

There were far more Engineers and Scientist in the Laboratory than computers, but I made the decision to assign them to those who needed them most and would make the best use of them. That decision was never challenged. More computers were added later and we eventually had one computer for each person. Within two years the individuals were typing their own documents and creating their own viewgraphs in minutes. There was on need to have a secretary use an Orator Ball on an electric typewriter if we needed the viewgraph quickly. If the viewgraph was very important then it was sent off to Graphics to return a week later and often it went back again for corrections.

In the beginning a Branch had 4 to 7 secretaries supporting about 35 Engineers and Scientist. Each month we were spending several tens of thousands of dollars on graphics. At the end of the two years there were 2 secretaries and just a few thousand dollars spent on the complex viewgraphs.