Surprise! How do you like your new computer?

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It's 30 years ago, and this senior programmer/analyst is busy cranking out the technical spec for a complete rewrite of the company's turnkey business system, reports a pilot fish on the scene.

"This was a mature system, with tons of features, bells and whistles," says fish. "So a new replacement system required hundreds of pages of technical documentation.

"He had an IBM PC with a 10MB hard disk and a floppy drive, and he was regularly complaining about the limitations of his computer, so his manager ordered him a new one."

The new computer arrives, but the programmer/analyst is gone for the weekend on a fish trip, so his manager assigns another programmer to set up the new PC on the programmer/analyst's desk, and dismantle the old machine to give to a secretary.

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