Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/02/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Richard, No, I don't know him. Now that you've mentioned "bit blt" I've got to look it up. I heard the term many times but never learned just what the algorithm was. Herbert Kanner kanner at acm.org 650-326-8204 Question authority and the authorities will question you. On Feb 3, 2013, at 3:16 PM, Richard Man wrote: > Herb, I bought my first Leica lens from someone on Waverley back in 2003. > He has a Xerox Dorado or Alto in his home. May be you know him? > > > On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 2:52 PM, Herbert Kanner <kanner at acm.org> wrote: > >> This bit of computer history is so rich that, even with many details >> glossed over, it may be too long for some readers. >> >> The story begins with the Xerox Corporation. The company was started in >> 1909 with the name The Haloid Photographic Co. They made photographic >> paper. The name in time got shortened to Haloid Xerox. Eventually, they >> developed commercially what they renamed xerography, became a successful >> copier company, dropped their photographic endeavors and the name >> "Haloid". >> >> Their research laboratory was in New York State. Copiers were their total >> stock in trade, but as computers became more prevalent, they had a vague >> idea, without explicit plans, that they should pay some attention to >> computers. They bought a computer company, Scientific Data Systems (SDS) >> pf >> Santa Monica, CA, changed its name to Xerox Data Systems (XDS) and >> proceeded to run it into the ground. >> >> Around 1970, again with the vague idea that they should investigate >> various technical and scientific fields including computer science, they >> found the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). The Palo Alto location, I was >> told in an early attempt at a job interview, was chosen to be as far as >> possible from corporate headquarters and far from XDS. The proximity of >> Stanford University was also a serious factor. >> >> The Alto was an attempt to prototype a computer for business use. While >> prohibitively expensive, the idea was that costs were dropping rapidly, >> and >> that in five to ten years, it was predicted, such a computer would be >> affordable to business. About two thousand of them were built, scattered >> around PARC and networked by ethernet cable. Ethernet was invented at >> PARC; >> so was the laser printer. Did Xerox make a fortune out of any of this? One >> commentator coined the sentence: "Xerox had the ability to snatch defeat >> from the jaws of victory!" >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/herbk1/L1002809.jpg.html >> >> What you are seeing is not the computer itself. The computer is a large >> box under the table, in a position where it could not possibly be shot. >> You >> will immediately notice the unusual shape of the screen. So what do you >> do >> in business? You shuffle sheets of paper. What is the shape of a sheet of >> paper? Nuff said. At the upper left of the picture, you will see an early >> ethernet cable. On the right is a mouse. This the first public appearance >> of one since it was invented by Doug Engelbart in 1963 and publicly >> demonstrated in 1969. >> >> On the left is a second invention of Doug's: a five key keyboard on which >> one can play chords. The idea was that with the left hand on it and the >> right hand on the mouse, you can do many operations without having to let >> go of the mouse until you are seriously entering text. I have fun when >> giving tours at the Computer History Museum by asking any geeks on the >> tour >> how many different chords can be played with five fingers. I usually draw >> a >> blank. Some how the concept of chords is a mental block. If I had asked >> them: "What is the largest number you can write with five binary digits," >> I'm sure they would have snapped out: 31. >> >> In 1979, related to the fact that Xerox had invented serious money in >> Apple, Steve Jobs got to see a demonstration of the Alto. The people at >> PARC did not want to show him what they considered to be the crown jewels, >> and on that day he didn't see anything he had not seen before. He was >> pissed off, made it known to Xerox headquarters, and a second visit was >> arranged at which the lab people were ordered to show him everything. >> >> At this point, we get into the realm of legend. There are two versions: >> the first, supported by some knowledgeable computer experts, is that Apple >> had been working for some time on the sort of graphical user interface >> that >> we know today on Windows and Macintosh, had encountered serious problems, >> and seeing that the problems had been solved at Xerox, proceeded to work >> harder and do the same at Apple. The second was that seeing this interface >> demonstrated at Xerox, Steve Jobs was stunned, and on returning to Apple >> caused the group working on the Lisa computer to go back to square one and >> redo hardware and software to provide that kind of interface. The Lisa, an >> unsuccessful product because of high price and poor performance, was >> followed in two years by the Macintosh. >> >> Having read the Steve Jobs biography, I'm inclined to go with the second >> version, the one in the biography. In the first place, the biographer >> seems >> to have been very meticulous and talked to a great many people. In the >> second place, it makes Steve Jobs seems a bit less brilliant. >> >> >> Herbert Kanner >> kanner at acm.org >> 650-326-8204 >> >> Question authority and the authorities will question you. >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > > > -- > // richard <http://www.richardmanphoto.com> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information