@Eryxx: Building cuircuit boards, repairing circuit boards, silicon wafer mfg., you name it. Everyone was grounded. Work stations had places for your wrist strap to plug into (banana plugs), if you were walking around you would have straps on your shoes, or some machines would have grounding mats around them. At some point everything had a cable attached to it that actualy went into the ground at some point. If you live in a house go look at your water pipe going into your house it should have a grounding strap on it with a thick cooper wire attached to it that goes into the ground. Same principle. You know about static electricity, yes? Your body acts like a capacitor for really small amounts of charge. That charge looks for a path to ground. Most of the time it just makes your hair stand up. Sometimes you touch something conductive and pow. I've been zapped a few times it actualy hurt. But I live in the desert static is worse. I've seen microscopic evidence of static discharge on electronics and it doesn't matter what kind of electronics they are all susceptible. But the article was correct about PC repair or building. You don't need a grounding strap for that you just need to touch the frame to discharge your bodies natural charge. Just don't rub any balloons or unroll scotch tape while your doing it. Sorry for the lecture, but you asked.

@Eryxx: That's funny because I worked for several different electronics companies and we were always grounded. Wrists and ankles and grounding mats on the floor.