Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin
Office, Messaging and Verbs (ben-evans.com)
10 points by AftHurrahWinch 31 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 1 comment


Saw this for the first time when @dcre mentioned it.

Really enjoyed this quote:

> a clerk in a large insurance company in New York, and so here you see his office - drones laid out at desks almost as far at the eye can see. Each desk has a telephone, rolodex, typewriter and a large electro-mechanical calculating machine.

> In effect, every person on that floor is a cell in a spreadsheet. The floor is a worksheet and the building is an Excel file, with thousands of cells each containing a single person. The links between cells are made up of a typewriter, carbon copies ('CC') and an internal mail system, and it takes days to refresh whenever someone on the top floor presses F9.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: