JUSTIN FOX, EDITORIAL DIR., HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW: Back in the 1970s, when the computer began making inroads in the workplace, we were told that the modern office would soon go paperless. Not quite. Consumption of office paper doubled in the '80s and '90s and the paperless office became something of a joke. It certainly was for me. Anything longer than an email, I wanted on paper. The Internet was where I searched for things to print. Then this Christmas, I got an iPad. I don't mean this to be an Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) ad. Before long, there will be lots of other tablets that do even more.

What can't be denied, though, is that this device has sent my paper consumption plummeting. I suddenly find myself doing most of my work reading onscreen. This could just be because it's a new toy. I think it's more than that. It's liberating to get on a plane without a stack of papers weighing down my backpack. It's liberating not to constantly forget or lose things I'd been meaning to read. There are downsides to not using paper, but on the whole, this is better. So, OK, paperless office, you took a while to get here, but I think you're about to clean up. I'm Justin Fox.

http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/transcripts/e_tablets_and_productivity_110301/