Paper and paper-like writing surfaces were non-white for a long time before we got bleached white paper. We haven't yet had a glowing-white paper. Traditional

Paper and paper-like writing surfaces were non-white for a long time before we got bleached white paper. We haven't yet had a glowing-white paper. Traditional-normal for computing was a dark background. There was likely a technological limit in the use of pure white at the start when "emulating" paper. VGA 16-color mode likely meant that the choice was between bright white and medium grey, which was too dark. Configurability has lagged behind though.