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Relax, They're Still Making Typewriters

Relax, They're Still Making TypewritersSo everyone is saying that the last typewriters have left the assembly line, and no new typewriters will ever be produced. It's not true.

The story being picked up is one that originated in India's Business Standard, in which a representative for Godrej & Boyce, who have produced typewriters in India since the 1950s, said that the company had ceased production on the machines back in 2009.

In the retelling, however, this somehow came to mean that Godrej & Boyce was the last existing typewriter manufacturer in the world, and that this therefore marked the final, wheezing gasps for the antiquated word-processing machines. From the fake typewriter ashes, a million nostalgic personal essays bloomed.

But rest easy, annoyingly hirsute hipster Luddites loitering at local cafes: The typewriter is alive and well. How do I know? Well, because I looked on Staples' website. But don't take my word for it. Let's check in with a typewriter manufacturing expert:

The typewriter is "far from dead," [says] Ed Michael, General Manager of Sales at Moonachie, NJ-based Swintec.

"We have manufacturers making typewriters for us in China, Japan, Indonesia," Michael says. "We have contracts with correctional facilities in 43 states to supply clear typewriters for inmates so they can't hide contraband inside them," Michael explained.

There you have it: So long as you can smuggle a nail file inside a MacBook, the typewriter will live to jam another day.

Otherwise you need power for every other device.

There will be a few who still want an old type writer. One huge advantage as long as you have light you can type.

One huge advantage as long as you have light you can type. Otherwise you need power for every other device.


	Amnesia10 wrote: There will be a few who still want an old type writer. One huge advantage as long as you have light you can type.

And fingers, obviously.

Jon


	Amnesia10 wrote: Otherwise you need power for every other device.

My pencil works OK without power

It is a bugbear of mine that offices use computers for little more than word processing. Great beasts that just sit there idly printing the next character onto the screen.
the typewriter would be sufficient to most office workers IMO, though I'd agree the lack of email on a typewriter would be somewhat annoying.

Can you imagine how some people would cope without the spellchecking facility?

the typewriter would be sufficient to most office workers IMO


	forquare1 wrote: the typewriter would be sufficient to most office workers IMO

But until Excel came along (pretty much), few people had the need to use spreadsheets...

Author:	paulzolo [ Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:17 pm ]
Post subject:	No (carriage) return for last typewriter manufactuer
That’s it - another technology bites the dust. The humble typewriter, a device to which we all owe a debt of gratitude, is no more. The last factory to make them stopped making them a while back, and it has around 500 remaining in stock. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. So, while we sit here, tapping away on our various keyboards from the likes of Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Cherry or whoever’s name yours has stamped on it, remember that the arrangement of keys - the QWERTY (or AZERTY) is a direct hang over from a machine that used mechanical levers to stamp letters on paper. It may not surprise you that I have a few - six to be precise - some couple of nice old black portables, and a few more modern ones. No more typewriters being made. I feel a little sad. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/366988/no-c ... anufactuer

Author:	Spreadie [ Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:40 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: No (carriage) return for last typewriter manufactuer
I remember learning to type on mechanical Typewriters. They made us use them at school, despite having BBC model Bs in the next room. I frikkin hated them. You couldn't type fast on them, because the levers would catch each other. I understand your sentiment Paul, but I don't share it.

Author:	Amnesia10 [ Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:27 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: No (carriage) return for last typewriter manufactuer
There will be a few who still want an old type writer. One huge advantage as long as you have light you can type. Otherwise you need power for every other device.

Author:	forquare1 [ Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:11 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: No (carriage) return for last typewriter manufactuer
It is a bugbear of mine that offices use computers for little more than word processing. Great beasts that just sit there idly printing the next character onto the screen. the typewriter would be sufficient to most office workers IMO, though I'd agree the lack of email on a typewriter would be somewhat annoying.

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