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In 1946, Ed Davis opened Davis Typewriter Company in
Merced as an Underwood typewriter dealer. From those
beginnings, Davis Typewriter Company began to sell
office furniture, supplies along with adding machines
and calculators.
In 1959, when I started working here part time after
school, we still sold Underwood typewriters, Gestetner
mimeographs and Olivetti calculators and adding
machines.
In 1973, Ed Davis retired and I purchased the business
from him. As times changed, we began to sell
photocopiers, dictation equipment and other office
equipment. In the late 70's, we began to see the first
electronic office machines--word processors and
calculators.
We began selling NEC personal computers in 1982--before
the IBM PC was introduced. CP/M was the operating
system and we had to learn everything from scratch.
With help from vendors and customers, we became one of
Merced's first computer stores.
Change was coming faster and faster throughout the 80's
and into the 90's. During that time, we became one of
the first computer service and network specialists in
Merced.
Of course, during that time, the name had to change to
reflect the changes in the business world. Davis Office
Systems now represents some of the best-known names in
office automation technology. A Chinese philosopher
once toasted "May you live in interesting times". We
sure have!
Another relevant quote from Dilbert: "Change is good--
you go first! Well, we went first...
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