[vcf-midatlantic] Xerox Wildflowers - Dandelions and Daybreaks

[Jeffrey Brace]

On Mon, Aug 17, 2020 at 7:12 PM Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> 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.
>

There is more to the story. If you read Dealers of Lightning, then you will
know that Jobs got permission to look at the code and Xerox had a
programmer walk through all the coding. It was more than just a tour and a
stock swap. Much, much more. We have the book in the museum. It's a great
read on the story of Xerox Parc.


>
> 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
> >>
> >>>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>


-- 
=========================================
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