Re: When I first started doing income tax returns on computer the only tax softeware I could find waS Turbo Tax. Can you believe that?

I actually CAN believe that, though there were quite a few others.

Per Google: 

When was Lacerte created?

1978
Business background: Started Lacerte Software Corp. in his home in 1978; developed Lacerte Tax Software, the first desktop application for general ledger and tax preparation.

When did Intuit acquire Lacerte?

How about TurboTax?

Per Wikipedia:  TurboTax is a software package for preparation of American income tax returns, produced by Intuit. TurboTax is a market leader in its product segment, competing with H&R Block Tax Software and TaxAct. TurboTax was developed by Michael A. Chipman of Chipsoft in 1984 and was sold to Intuit in 1993.

What about the tax service with WIDE pages of input sheet and delivered either by the moonlighting storks or courier services? 

It was Computax - developed in 1963, acquired by CCH in 1965 and became CCH Computax,  I was still with a firm in the early 1980's.  The firm had used Computax but was switching to CIS, Computax Interactive System and some other CCH remote entry system.  I still remember CIS because the CPA firm also had a branch called CSG Computer Software Group, which installed Solomon and CYMA on client computers, then customized applications, consulted and trained clients' employees.  Before long, CSG was basically destroyed by Peachtree.

When I started my practice, CCH was still the industry leader.  Over lunch, my mentor (partner of a local firm) told me just one word: Lacerte.  That was all I needed for my decision.