Almost all the “popular” content we see on the internet and in the tech world today already existed (in one form or another) before its modern incarnation. A striking example is our adoration of cats, a true sensation in the early 20th century. The concept of the meme found fertile ground in classic photocopiers, and let’s not forget that people basically called by phone or went to public libraries to ask questions that today are the domain of Google.
Some digital resources are so vital today that it becomes hard to imagine a time “before” them… but there was one. Take, for example, AutoCAD. What did designers, architects, and engineers do before its official launch in 1982?
The answer is obviously drawing… and a lot. The gallery shared by Vintage Everyday shows us rows and rows of experts bent over their drawing boards, surrounded by tools, lamps, and a nightmare of drafting sheets.
Personally, I have to say the images make me very uncomfortable, because I suffered too much in technical drawing in high school. I honestly hated that subject, almost as much as the teachers. Therefore, I can only feel respect for these dedicated workers of the pre-AutoCAD era.
