Does a pretty good job at running through PARC's founding and some of the many reasons why none of its amazing technology took off (Spoilers: it wasn't always Xerox interfering!).
The Alto is another example of what Xerox could have been had it not been so wedded to putting dots on paper. In my twenty years at Xerox I watched it slowly (and then quickly) shrink as the dots on paper market shrank.
In an alternative universe, Xerox is mentioned in the same breath as Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
I always thought it was crazy that Xerox had all this ahead-of-the-time technology in its labs, yet when it released a commercial PC, what we got was the 820, a me-too CP/M system that came out just in time for the IBM PC to steamroll it.
Contrast the price of that machine, against what the Alto's successor the Star was costing (my wife's aunt-by-marriage oversaw the first Alto installation at the U.S. government in DC and even the Feds couldn't justify the cost to move from the Alto to Star).
"Well, Steve [Jobs], I think there's more than one way of looking at it. I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it." - Bill Gates
Again, this was a business deal. Xerox was allowed to purchase $1M of pre-IPO Apple stock in exchange for the visit. No one was tricked, nothing was stolen, and everyone knew what the deal was.
I was looking at the fonts and wondering if there is good documentation on how to read the files and convert them to modern bitmap formats (and, eventually, to non-bitmaps).
I reimplemented Cream for an Apple II educational program and it allowed the user to enter their name using it. I did that with a bit of imagination, the Take-1 Programmer's Toolkit (an awesome tool for the II) and a (Xerox, only now I notice the coincidence) photocopy of a BYTE article covering SmallTalk.
That long-running freelance job is probably why I didn't pursue a career as a hardware engineer and went deep into software.
We had one of these, at my first job. I wasn’t allowed to use it. I wrote most of my stuff in WordStar.
Come to think of it, I’m not sure I ever saw anyone actually spending a lot of time, writing anything. Most of us were allowed to play with it, but we weren’t really allowed to sit at it, and write docs.
Yeah, one of those machines (either the Palo or the Alto) was put on display near the entrance of the late Xerox PARC on Coyote hill (near VA). I was playing with the idea to power it but was told that it doesn't work anymore, at least the power supply is dead and allegedly there were also missing components... I suppose SRI will toss it soon if not already...
Good book on the subject that I recently finished reading:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029PBVCA
Does a pretty good job at running through PARC's founding and some of the many reasons why none of its amazing technology took off (Spoilers: it wasn't always Xerox interfering!).
The Alto is another example of what Xerox could have been had it not been so wedded to putting dots on paper. In my twenty years at Xerox I watched it slowly (and then quickly) shrink as the dots on paper market shrank.
In an alternative universe, Xerox is mentioned in the same breath as Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
I always thought it was crazy that Xerox had all this ahead-of-the-time technology in its labs, yet when it released a commercial PC, what we got was the 820, a me-too CP/M system that came out just in time for the IBM PC to steamroll it.
Contrast the price of that machine, against what the Alto's successor the Star was costing (my wife's aunt-by-marriage oversaw the first Alto installation at the U.S. government in DC and even the Feds couldn't justify the cost to move from the Alto to Star).
It already is, though granted the phrasing is usually, "It was sure nice of Xerox to provide all that free technology for Apple and Microsoft."
"Well, Steve [Jobs], I think there's more than one way of looking at it. I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it." - Bill Gates
https://folklore.org/A_Rich_Neighbor_Named_Xerox.html
It already is, though granted the phrasing is usually, "It was sure nice of Xerox to provide all that free technology for Apple and Microsoft."
Only on HN is $1,000,000 in stock considered "free."
Compared to the value of that technology to Apple and Microsoft? $1,000,000 is "free" (within rounding error, anyway).
Again, this was a business deal. Xerox was allowed to purchase $1M of pre-IPO Apple stock in exchange for the visit. No one was tricked, nothing was stolen, and everyone knew what the deal was.
Somewhat related, curiousmarc has an absolutely brilliant video series from 2016 documenting the restoration of an Alto II:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-_93BVApb58I3ZV67LW3...
RIP to the Living Computers: Museum in Seattle… the last place I was ever able to use one of these machines in the flesh.
Previous Discussion:
Xerox Alto Source Code - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8490156 - Oct 2014 (20 comments)
I was looking at the fonts and wondering if there is good documentation on how to read the files and convert them to modern bitmap formats (and, eventually, to non-bitmaps).
I reimplemented Cream for an Apple II educational program and it allowed the user to enter their name using it. I did that with a bit of imagination, the Take-1 Programmer's Toolkit (an awesome tool for the II) and a (Xerox, only now I notice the coincidence) photocopy of a BYTE article covering SmallTalk.
That long-running freelance job is probably why I didn't pursue a career as a hardware engineer and went deep into software.
We had one of these, at my first job. I wasn’t allowed to use it. I wrote most of my stuff in WordStar.
Come to think of it, I’m not sure I ever saw anyone actually spending a lot of time, writing anything. Most of us were allowed to play with it, but we weren’t really allowed to sit at it, and write docs.
Is it all html directories? Is there a zip or git so you can explore locally?
Another piece of preserved software from the Alto is Medley Interlisp. This software is still alive today.
https://interlisp.org/
Yeah, one of those machines (either the Palo or the Alto) was put on display near the entrance of the late Xerox PARC on Coyote hill (near VA). I was playing with the idea to power it but was told that it doesn't work anymore, at least the power supply is dead and allegedly there were also missing components... I suppose SRI will toss it soon if not already...
What an incredible machine.