"Also note that, despite the fact that MBTI is selling its up-to-the-minute technology training, the woman to the left of spokesman Doucette is using an electric typewriter."

Well remember, computers were pretty pricey back then. If she's just practicing typing, then theres no need to be at an actual computer.

I was a little young to be in the workforce at the time of this airing, but I remember my father being all excited about visicalc and word processing programs. I didn't care because all I wanted to do was draw. When MacPaint came out, thats when I got interested in computers.

WOW, just half a year to learn how to use Microsoft Word? If I want to use OpenOffice, will it take longer?

@se7a7n7: First you have to wait about 10 years for it to be developed.

@se7a7n7: Of course, all the cool kids were in the WordStar class.

hmm I remember being taught this stuff in Jr High. I annoyed my teachers to no end though. I finished the work book in about a week and started programming games on the systems. Teachers don't like it when the students know more about the subject than they do.

I'd pay to get my hands on some of those old keyboards though, those things were damn near indestructable.

School + Computers = using BASIC on a TRS-80 to make purty pictures.

wow, scary ... I knew his name before I saw/heard it come up.
I remember these commercials.
I always thought the M in MBTI was Milwaukee, not Manpower.

I remember when Mr. Wizard would have tips on using a computer. Crtl+C seemed so amazing and I wanted a computer so bad just to try it out.

Back in Philly, during those early days there was a "business institute" of some kind that trained you in modern programming. They had one commercial where the fellow proudly complains "Program a computer? I can't even program my VCR!" Loved it every time.

This is giving me a horrible flashback.

A local country club had automated its office. The secretaries and boss were bought IBM-PCs so they could do word processing and automate the mailing list. I was hired to do some installs and some training.

Unfortunately the software was this hideous, horrible IBM-produced office package called "PDS" (personal decision solution, I think). The word processor was just horrible; it wouldn't let you indent on both sides of a block, something required for the newsletter.

So . . . she had to switch back to her trusty Seletric.

Ah yes! Back in the primordial eon of desktop computing. I was in my first years of university when commercials like these were broadcast.

I didn't get what the problem was for some computer-phobes either. I just sat in front of my step-father's IBM looked briefly at the Easy Writer manual for about 5 minutes and I was a word processing diva in minutes.

Now these young whippersnappers with their home sequencing kits--flibbidy floo! I remember when it took a grad school student and millions of dollars of equipment to gene sequence or make DNA. You'd have to micro-pipette that stuff by hand! And we liked it!