Come the Revolution Available to Purchase

The familiar phrase the office of the eighties is already becoming hackneyed, even though we have only just entered the new decade. There has been unprecedented attention in the media which has focused on the effects of the introduction of high technology in modern offices, with particular reference to serious reductions in employment prospects for today's eight million office workers. Perhaps everyone has heard of silicon chips without fully appreciating what kind of new technology is involved, and why this poses a threat to employment. In this article I will briefly survey the nature of the new technology, and concentrate on word processors which are the machines most likely to be behind significant job losses in the office. I propose to anticipate areas in which problems will occur, and place in perspective the quite reasonable concern being voiced about employment wastage.