On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 4:33 PM, Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Nathan wrote:
> > I cannot help thinking about how computers killed the typewriter ribbon
> business.
> > And how the printing press in put transcribing monks out of business in
> the 16th century. And...
> > I do not mean to sound callous. I know that change is difficult and
> wrenching. But the reality is that technology has changed the business
> model for photography in a fundamental way, and no amount of nostalgia for
> the good old days will undo those changes.
>
> While I understand your sentiment, I don't necessarily agree with your
> specifics. Computers greatly increased demand on ink ribbons with a
> couple decades of dot-matrix printers screeching away. Laser printers
> and then inkjet printers eventually took their place. Demand for IBM
> Selectric typewriters died a rapid death, though. As to the monks
> being put out of business, it really didn't do that either. They
> continued to do what they did, but the growth of their industry
> capped. Over a period of a few generations, that task of
> writing/copying died down as the manuscripts they did copy were put
> into print.
One of my esteemed profs in grad school -- sadly, long passed on -- told me
that in the early days of print, when a really valuable book came out,
sometimes people would take them to scribes to have them copied out to make
them into a "proper" hand-copied book.
Joel W.
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|