Computing on the Desktop: From Batch to Online in Two Large Danish Service Bureaus

The advent of the personal computer is often hailed as the major step towards empowering the computer user. This step was indeed significant, but it was preceeded by a similar step some 10-15 years earlier: the advent of the video terminal or ”glass–TTY”. The video terminal invaded the desktop of many while collar workers and the workplace of many blue collar workers in the 1970s and 1980s. It replaced batch processing and facilitated direct, interactive access to computing services. This had a considerable impact on working conditions. This paper addresses this transition in two large Danish software bureaus Datacentralen and Kommunedata in the 1970s and 1980s.