[vcf-midatlantic] Xerox Wildflowers - Dandelions and Daybreaks
Tony Bogan
tony.bogan at vcfed.org
Mon Aug 17 19:11:28 EDT 2020
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 at 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 at 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.
>>
>>>
>>
>>> On Mon, Aug 17, 2020 at 2:59 PM Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <
>>
>>> vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>
>>>> On Mon, Aug 17, 2020 at 10:08 AM Andrew Diller <dillera at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>>
>>
>>>>> I know DavidG has done some amazing work (along with other members) on
>>
>>>>> VCF's 8010 (*Dandelion)*... And strangely enough the same day
>> (yesterday)
>>
>>>>> someone on the SGI Discord I frequent posted this amazing video, which
>> I
>>
>>>>> thought I'd share to interested people here:
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Dlr5rY9SI
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>>> Of a Daybreak (*Xerox 6085)* booting up into ViewPoint 2.0 and using
>> the
>>
>>>>> apps. VCF also has a Daybreak which would be great to get fully
>>
>>>> functional
>>
>>>>> again as well.
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Daybreak
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Star
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>>> I'm not sure of the dates, but do people know if the Xerox Star would
>>
>>>> have
>>
>>>>> been the system that Jobs and the Apple team viewed at Xerox back when
>>
>>>> they
>>
>>>>> had their infamous visits? Or were those Altos?
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>> I wonder if the book "Dealers of Lightning" has any details about this.
>>
>>>>
>>
>>>>
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>>> -andy
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>>>
>>
>>>> --
>>
>>>> =========================================
>>
>>>> Jeff Brace
>>
>>>> Vice President & Board Member
>>
>>>> Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner
>>
>>>> Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity
>>
>>>> http://www.vcfed.org/
>>
>>>> jeffrey at vcfed.org
>>
>>>> cell: 732-759-1783
>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
More information about the vcf-midatlantic
mailing list