5 ms·

> "and most importantly the WYSIWYG, mouse-driven graphical user interface provided by the Alto" This should be better, "available on the Alto". Neither was th

> "and most importantly the WYSIWYG, mouse-driven graphical user interface provided by the Alto" This should be better, "available on the Alto". Neither was this in the/any OS, nor was Smalltalk or Bravo/Gipsy for the matter the sole software available on the Alto. The wording suggests a consistency, which simply wasn't there. Notably, what was going on at PARC wasn't a secret: PARC published papers and key developers at Apple, like Bill Atkinson, were familiar with at least some of them. The latter were also those, who wanted Jobs to see this in real live and who accompanied him on the trip, and they came prepared. Moreover, numerous tours to PARC and its software had been given to outsiders before (compare A. Goldberg), some of these tours even more complete. However, Jobs was the first – at least in part (he later said, he totally missed out on the network and its importance) – to grasp what he was shown, which in turn convinced some of PARC personal like Larry Tesler (who was giving part of the presentation) to switch to Apple, in order to see this technology become a reality. (Jobs getting the GUI must have been some of an experience.) Obligatory link in this context (a series of polaroids from Lisa development): https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Busy_Being_Born.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Busy_Being_Born.... (Mind bitmapped graphics being documented before the visit and, probably also before this, a first prototype of a windowed document. It is also interesting to see how the influence of the PARC visit shows also as some of a distraction, and it's only when they gradually inch back towards the original window design that things start to come together. May we interpret this as a process of emancipation from PARC's influence?)

lispm 3y ago
https://www.livingcomputers.org/Blog/What-Really-Happened-Steve-Jobs-@-Xerox-PARC-79.aspx https://www.livingcomputers.org/Blog/What-Really-Happened-St... What Really Happened: Steve Jobs @ Xerox PARC '79
- turnsout 3y ago
  This is fantastic—thanks for the link. I always defend Apple when people say they "stole" their GUI from Xerox, but this post has a lot of great details, including what Xerox's VC arm did with their $1M of pre-IPO Apple stock (sold it for $1.2M :facepalm:)
  - coldtea 3y ago
    If they kept it at some point it would have been worth more than Xerox.
    - turnsout 3y ago
      It's true, Xerox could have retired by now!
    - AlbertCory 3y ago
      Even more amazing, in the 80s they finally realized they should capitalize on all this technology, and allowed a bunch of entrepreneurial employees to use it (although they didn't invest $$$). Several of these (Spectra Diode Labs, Synoptics) could have made them a rival to Berkshire Hathaway. https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight
      - masswerk 3y ago
        To be fair, Star development started as about as soon as this had become a viable project. Compare the availability of D-processors, and things like Smalltalk76, the Gipsy editor, Mesa as the base operating system being less than a year old, then. I think, the narrative of Xerox just not knowing what they had doesn't add up with the timeline.
        AlbertCory 3y ago
        Well, they certainly weren't interested in stepping outside their business model. I think I showed that pretty conclusively. As far as "knowing what they had" -- Jerry and I did write about that: https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight it's not so much "not knowing", it's not being interested in taking over the computer industry and not wanting to understand it. They wanted a machine they could sell through their copier sales channel, period. The part where Don Massaro says, "The desktop is OUR market. The 820 is just to hold our place on it until the Star is ready" (and yes, he really did say that) betrays a stunning blindness to what was going on: "People are bringing their Apple II's to work so they can use VisiCalc? Well, we'll put an end to that stupidity!"

lispm 3y ago

https://www.livingcomputers.org/Blog/What-Really-Happened-Steve-Jobs-@-Xerox-PARC-79.aspx https://www.livingcomputers.org/Blog/What-Really-Happened-St... What Really Happened: Steve Jobs @ Xerox PARC '79

turnsout 3y ago
This is fantastic—thanks for the link. I always defend Apple when people say they "stole" their GUI from Xerox, but this post has a lot of great details, including what Xerox's VC arm did with their $1M of pre-IPO Apple stock (sold it for $1.2M :facepalm:)
- coldtea 3y ago
  If they kept it at some point it would have been worth more than Xerox.
  - turnsout 3y ago
    It's true, Xerox could have retired by now!
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    Even more amazing, in the 80s they finally realized they should capitalize on all this technology, and allowed a bunch of entrepreneurial employees to use it (although they didn't invest $$$). Several of these (Spectra Diode Labs, Synoptics) could have made them a rival to Berkshire Hathaway. https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight
    - masswerk 3y ago
      To be fair, Star development started as about as soon as this had become a viable project. Compare the availability of D-processors, and things like Smalltalk76, the Gipsy editor, Mesa as the base operating system being less than a year old, then. I think, the narrative of Xerox just not knowing what they had doesn't add up with the timeline.
      - AlbertCory 3y ago
        Well, they certainly weren't interested in stepping outside their business model. I think I showed that pretty conclusively. As far as "knowing what they had" -- Jerry and I did write about that: https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight it's not so much "not knowing", it's not being interested in taking over the computer industry and not wanting to understand it. They wanted a machine they could sell through their copier sales channel, period. The part where Don Massaro says, "The desktop is OUR market. The 820 is just to hold our place on it until the Star is ready" (and yes, he really did say that) betrays a stunning blindness to what was going on: "People are bringing their Apple II's to work so they can use VisiCalc? Well, we'll put an end to that stupidity!"