330、Computer office systems are computers and their peripheral equipment are used to crea te, store, process, or communicate information in a business environment.This information can be electronically produced, duplicated, and transm itted.The rapid growth of the service sector of the United States economy beginning in the mid 1 9 7 0s has furnished a new market for sophisticated office automation.With the increasing incorporation of microchips and microcircuitry into office equipm ent, the line between the computer and other equipment has blurred.At the same tim e, computers either stand alone or as part of a network and specialized software programs are taking over tasks such as facsimile transmission— or FA X, voice m ail, and telecommunications that were once performed by separate pieces of equipm ent.In fa c t, the computer has virtually taken the place of typewriters, calculators, and manual accounting techniques and is rapidly taking over graphics design, production scheduling, and engineering design as well.During the first half of the 2 0 th century, financial and other numerical re-cord keeping tasks were performed manually or by bookkeeping m achines, billingmachines, tabulation equipment, and other types of electromechanical accounting devices.In the 1950s , such machines were increasingly replaced by mainframe computers— large, very expensivehigh speed machines that required operators as well as a special temperature regulated facility to prevent overheating.Use of these machines today is limited to large organizations with heavy volume data processing requirements.Time sharing, allowing more than one company to use the same mainframe for a fee, was instituted to divide the cost of the equipment among several users while ensuring that the equipment is utilized to the maximum extent.Mainframes with remote terminals, each with its own monitor, became available in the mid 1970s and allowed for simultaneous input by many users.With the advent of the minicomputer, however, a far less expensive alternative became available.The transistor and microelectronics made manufacture of these smaller, less complex machines practicable.Minicomputer, the first of which entered general business use in the early 1960s , are now widespread in commerce and government.Terminals linked to the central processing unit ( ) are under the direct control of the individual user rather than centralized staff.In recent years, however, it is the microcomputer, or personal computer ( ), that has come to play the principal role in most office workplaces.(1)、1.Computer office systems consist o f.