From The Atlantic, July 1982:

When I sit down to write a letter or start the first draft of an article, I simply type on the keyboard and the words appear on the screen. For six months, I found it awkward to compose first drafts on the computer. Now I can hardly do it any other way. It is faster to type this way than with a normal typewriter, because you don’t need to stop at the end of the line for a carriage return (the computer automatically “wraps” the words onto the next line when you reach the right-hand margin), and you never come to the end of the page, because the material on the screen keeps sliding up to make room for each new line. It is also more satisfying to the soul, because each maimed and misconceived passage can be made to vanish instantly, by the word or by the paragraph, leaving a pristine green field on which to make the next attempt.

Even in an era when we all use computers on a daily basis – and I do even more than most people – it’s absolutely enthralling to read a description of how an ordinary person can really use such a thing as a personal computer.

I particularly like Mr. Fallows’ description of using BASIC to write some tax accounting software.

At the end of the year, I load the income-tax program into the computer, push the button marked “Run,” and watch as my tax return is prepared. Since it took me only about six months to learn BASIC (and the tax laws) well enough to write the program, I figure this approach will save me time by 1993.

That doesn’t sound remotely like anything I’ve ever developed.  (He says, unconvincingly.)