Remember your desk from the ’80s? If you were even alive back then it probably featured an old Macintosh surrounded by a disgusting mess of books, letters, a telephone, a fax machine and probably even a Rolodex. But thanks to the rapid pace of technology, you’d be hard-pressed to find any of those items on the modern college student’s desk.
To show just how quickly our work areas have evolved in the last three decades, the Harvard Innovation Lab recreated the desktop from 30 years ago, then documented how the Mac decluttered it as technology evolved. What was once a confusing pile of single-use items has been pared down to just a clean, simple surface with a laptop, sunglasses and smartphone. Watch the full time-lapse “Evolution of the Desk” video to see how the decluttering went down.
My desk doesn’t look anywhere near as clean as Harvard’s desk in 2014, but at least I don’t have to keep a big-ass globe on it just to find the location of Rwanda. How has your desk changed over the years?
Via: Gizmodo
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
33 responses to “See how Mac magically decluttered our desks over past 30 years”
Yeah… except that phone pictured above is definitely a Samsung Galaxy S4. #fail
S3, in fact :) It’s my old phone.
Yeah, and the computer after the Macintosh Classic is also a ThinkPad.
Its because of the iCloud breach!
yeah just macs did that not computers.. peeh
Apple also lead the way/set the standard for Apps.
Just the sunglasses to go :)
… Enter: f.lux
How did a Mac replace car Keys?
Because you must choose – either a Mac or a car.
The iPhone has replaced car key on some cars.
Except in the gif, there’s no iPhone, instead there’s an S3.
Who has a desk?
Cool project, though as a friend points out, the Mac is 30 years old not 35 (using the “1984” Super Bowl as as reference). Might want to update the headline.
Yeah, and if the electrical power goes down, even the desk is gone…and you start looking for the old notebook and contacts book. :D
PS: maybe the globe should have stayed, so that people at the desk wouldn’t become so ignorant about where they are on this planet…
If you had a desktop and a laptop, then when the power goes down you can transfer to the portable, no internet for me though as the modem runs on mains too. :/
The battery on the portable does not run forever. For the internet one can use a mobile wireless device (I have one as a backup or as on road solution). But that runs on battery to so…the problem stays the same. This “desktop cleaning” is just an illusion as depends exclusively on electrical power. Somewhere in the back, the old solution are on standby because there are no redundancy systems here… :)
Google Earth
how does the mac replace scissors and white out?
How does it not? I cut paper with my Macbook Air all the time.
Cmd-X, Cmd-C, Cmd-V
Here’s a pic of my desk right here right now.
but they are multiplying.
Yeh right. I’m sure you know what you’re on about. Flucked if I do… :)
How does it replace a printer?
it’s not a printer, it’s a fax machine
Hmm, starts looking like a life-filled home and turns into a stark east german stasi interrogation room!
http://elitedaily.com/money/entrepreneurship/psychology-behind-messy-rooms-messy-room-may-necessarily-bad-thing/708046/
Looks cool, but I don’t think a computer can replace the car keys next to the sunglasses…
Well… you can open some car models with some smartphone apps ;)
How did Apple do this? I’m confused. Sounds like a fanboy….
Read history. learn.
What is sad is the writer actually thinks that Apple did this on their own. Really?
They did.