500 machines left at world's last typewriter factory

Gee grandpa, what's that?

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If you can remember how to change a typewriter ribbon - even if you've since forgotten but once could - this news is about to leave you feeling, well, old.

Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company, the world's last manufacturer of office typewriters, is putting its last 500 machines on sale at discount prices.

"From the early 2000 onwards, computers started dominating," Godrej & Boyc general manager Milind Dukle, told India's Business Standard newspaper. "All the manufacturers of office typewriters stopped production, except us. Till 2009, we used to produce 10,000 to 12,000 machines a year."

The company, which stopped making typewriters in 2009, when it switched over its typewriter plant to make refrigerators. During the 1990s, Dukle said, the company was producing 50,000 machines every year. But the rapid spread of computers spelled the inevitable doom for Godrej Prima - as well as for other bellwether typewriter brands which included the likes of Remington Rand, Olivetti, Smith-Corona, Adler-Royal, and Olympia.

[ellemat]

This story has been debunked. http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2011/04/26/typewriter-myth-of-the-day/

[karek40]

Not sure I could type legibly without the red line indicating I have a misspelled word. Wonder how much they will discount the typewriters?

[elliesamericana]

Another big plus with typewriters is that they do not spontaneously destroy your work. My experience has been they tend to do it in the clutch, losing something you can never regain again. Creative thought, I've noticed, only comes out once. If it goes onto a piece of paper, you still have it. If it goes onto a computer screen and the computer loses it, it is lost forever. It seems the computers always seem to know what is irreplaceable and, voila, it's gone.

[thesevenveils]

Typewriters are almost as good as a fine fountain pen. Somehow the words come out better. Quality over quantity. But then again, here is to spell check, cheers!