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  • Podcast: The Killer App that Killed the Typewriter

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Podcast: The Killer App that Killed the Typewriter

July 26, 2007

We reminisce about 1980s computer technology and how the innovation of word processing tipped PCs to the mainstream.

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Personal computers that calculated numbers were nice, but the world really changed when they could manipulate words. We examine that moment in time with Smithsonian curator David Allison and with Clint and Barb Johnson, who represent a class of early mainstream users of the personal computer. Their first PC, one of the first made by Dell, was donated to the Museum.


"Prototype Online: Inventive Voices" is a podcast series produced by the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center. Written and hosted by Paul Rosenthal. Audio production by Benjamin Bloom. Theme music by Will Eastman. Art Molella, executive producer. Clint and Barb Johnson, and Smithsonian curator David Allison were originally interviewed on 5 June 2007 by Paul Rosenthal; podcast released 26 July 2007.

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