Here's my favorite disconnect video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-Tl8v9euJE Internal Xerox sales video comparing, I believe, the Star to a Mac and an IBM PC. And people who haven't used a Star don't realize how flawed that original GUI was. I'm sure most of us have seen: https://www.folklore.org/ But, if you haven't, prepare to spend some serious time reading about the early days of the Macintosh. So many things people assume were invented by Xerox were most certainly not. On 8/17/2020 7:11 PM, Tony Bogan wrote:
While we know better, I still find it amusing that people believe that jobs was “visiting” PARC, or given a “tour,” saw the Alto/Star/whatever machine running the GUI, ran back to Apple and “stole” Xerox’s ideas and created the Mac.
I find it amusing because there is ample evidence to prove no such thing ever happened, in reality it was a business deal that in essence traded Apple stock for use of Xerox IP, but I guess the conspiracy sites are more fun to read.
Tony
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 17, 2020, at 4:49 PM, Dean Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Yes, exactly. They were focused on advanced document processing systems and couldn’t even hold onto that market, even with such advanced tech.
On Mon, Aug 17, 2020 at 4:46 PM Adam Michlin <amichlin@swerlin.com> wrote:
My father, who was working at Exxon at the time, got special permission
through his boss to visit PARC some time, he thinks, between 78-82...
not entirely sure. He is pretty certain it was before Jobs visited, but
he can't be sure. Apparently he had to all but sign his first born away
(*phew*) that he wouldn't leak any secrets.
What he is crystal clear on is that he was shown the Alto and the Dorado
and not the Star and that Xerox had no commericial products of the GUI
computer ilk. He would later purchase a Star as part of responsibilities
at Exxon, probably around 1983.
As to how Xerox could have dropped the ball.. it is more like how could
they not have dropped the ball. They were a *copier* company and they
were making money hand over fist selling copiers. This new fangled
computer business? Meh. They also lost out on the personal laser printer
and Ethernet (double doh!).
On 8/17/2020 3:07 PM, Dean Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Turns out it was Altos. The Star was the commercialized successor to the Alto.