--- title: Blog • This book changed my life … • PacSol UK description: Did this manual change my life? Well it certainly changed the direction of my life, and that of some of my colleagues. image: https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/5250-manual-square.png --- [Skip to content](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/book-changed-life#main-content) [![PacSol UK Document Management Software](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/PacSol%20Logos/PacSol_Logo_tagline_gadget_registered_96dpi.png?width=1280&height=255&name=PacSol_Logo_tagline_gadget_registered_96dpi.png)](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/) - [Home](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/) - Solutions Show submenu for Solutions - [Document Capture](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/document-capture) - [Document Management](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/document-management) - [Business Process Automation](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/business-process-automation) - [Email Processing](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/email-processing) - [Forms Processing](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/forms-processing) - [Sectors](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/sectors) - [Services](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/services) - [Support](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/pacsol-support) - [Contact](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/contact) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Home](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/) - Solutions Show submenu for Solutions - [Document Capture](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/document-capture) - [Document Management](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/document-management) - [Business Process Automation](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/business-process-automation) - [Email Processing](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/email-processing) - [Forms Processing](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/forms-processing) - [Sectors](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/sectors) - [Services](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/services) - [Support](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/pacsol-support) - [Contact](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/contact) - [Return to Blog Listings](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog) [Return to Blog Listings](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog) Jul 27, 2022 10:17:00 AM # This book changed my life … [Mark Wheadon](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/author/mark-wheadon) [facebook-f icon](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/book-changed-life) [linkedin-in icon](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/book-changed-life) [envelope icon](mailto:?body=https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/book-changed-life) ![5250-manual-square](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog%20Media/5250-manual-square.png?width=200&height=200&name=5250-manual-square.png) No, not an (allegedly) revolutionary self help book, just an old computer manual. I’ll keep the technical bit brief… If you are old enough to remember before the [IBM PC](https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/personalcomputer/) (that was 1981 by the way) we used to use dumb terminals – no graphics, just green or white text on a black background – what more could you want? Quite a lot as it turns out. Sometime in the early ‘90s I must have been at a loose end. Seeing this manual lying around I decided to have a flip through it (as you do). In it I found a way to write a program to read the text on the screen of a dumb terminal. I also knew that I could link this program up so that when the user pressed a certain *magic* key on their keyboard, my little program would be called and it would read their screen. Sounds pretty exciting eh? As a young keen programmer it was. The reason is that we had been doing a bit with document management involving some scanning. It occurred to me that if the user was in their Line of Business application and say, they went into a customer account, they could press the *magic* key on the keyboard, my program would read what was on the screen and it could work out which of their customers it was. Then my program could list all the associated images. Pretty cool I thought. I wrote the program and gave a demo to some colleagues. To my surprise, instead of suggesting that I ‘get out more’ they seemed impressed and saw the potential, though they might still have felt that I should get out more, Thus [ImageView](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/document-management#ImageView) was born with its (at the time) unique feature. Times have changed and so has ImageView, now sporting a modern web interface. Did this manual change my life? Well it didn’t change my values or core beliefs, but it certainly changed the direction of my life, and that of some of my colleagues. Perhaps you have a similar story? Perhaps you are glad you didn’t get out more but instead invented something that changed, at least the direction of your life and others too. Drop us a line, we’d love to hear about it. --- ![mw_colour_500x](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Staff%20Photos/mw_colour_500x.png?width=150&height=150&name=mw_colour_500x.png)  Mark Wheadon, Director. July 2022       ---   [![PacSol_Logo_SocialMedia_DMAdvert_CompanyBanner_96dpi](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/PacSol_Logo_SocialMedia_DMAdvert_CompanyBanner_96dpi.png?width=960&height=148&name=PacSol_Logo_SocialMedia_DMAdvert_CompanyBanner_96dpi.png)](https://www.pacsol.co.uk) #PacSolUK #IBM #IBMi #ImageView [Newsletter](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/tag/newsletter), [IBMi](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/tag/ibmi), [IBM](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/tag/ibm), [document management](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/tag/document-management), [ImageView](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/tag/imageview) ## Related posts [![](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/UnSplashed%20Images/zach-reiner-tree%20roots-unsplash.jpg?height=200&name=zach-reiner-tree%20roots-unsplash.jpg)](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/change-roots) ## [Change involves getting to the roots](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/change-roots) [Read more](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/change-roots) [![](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/UnSplashed%20Images/edward-howell-consumeless-unsplash.jpg?height=200&name=edward-howell-consumeless-unsplash.jpg)](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/positive-pandemic) ## [Positive Pandemic: Has Covid forced us to change for the better?](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/positive-pandemic) [Read more](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/positive-pandemic) [![](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/UnSplashed%20Images/Love_Kindness.jpg?height=200&name=Love_Kindness.jpg)](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/mental-health-doesnt-just-stop) ## [Mental Health doesn’t just stop after 16/05](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/mental-health-doesnt-just-stop) [Read more](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/mental-health-doesnt-just-stop) --- [![PacSol UK Document Management Software](https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/PacSol%20Logos/PacSol_Logo_tagline_gadget_registered_96dpi.png?width=1280&height=255&name=PacSol_Logo_tagline_gadget_registered_96dpi.png "PacSol UK Document Management Software")](https://www.pacsol.co.uk) 134 High Street, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1BB Copyright © 2026, Pacific Solutions International Limited ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Mark Wheadon", "url" : "https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/author/mark-wheadon" }, "dateModified" : "2023-07-06T09:49:49.437Z", "datePublished" : "2022-07-27T09:17:00.000Z", "headline" : "Blog • This book changed my life … • PacSol UK", "image" : [ "https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/5250-manual-square.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.pacsol.co.uk/blog/book-changed-life", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.pacsol.co.uk/hubfs/PacSol%20Logos/PacSol_Logo_tagline_gadget_registered_96dpi.png" }, "name" : "Pacific Solutions International Limited" } } ```