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[Wikipedia] In 1970, under company president Charles Peter McColough,
Xerox opened the Xerox PARC (Xerox Palo Alto Research Center) research facility. The facility developed many modern
computing technologies such as the graphical user interface (GUI), Laser printing, WYSIWYG text editors and Ethernet. From
these inventions, Xerox PARC created the Xerox Alto in 1973, a small minicomputer similar to a modern workstation or personal
computer. This machine can be considered the first true Personal Computer, given its versatile combination of a cathode-ray-type
screen, mouse-type pointing device, and a QWERTY-type alphanumeric keyboard. But the Alto was never commercially sold, as
Xerox itself could not see the sales potential of it. It was, however, installed in Xerox's own offices, worldwide and those
of the US Government and military, who could see the potential. Within these sites the individual workstations were connected
together by Xerox's own unique LAN, The Ethernet. Data was sent around this system of heavy, yellow, low loss coaxial cable
using the packet data system. In addition, PARC also developed one of the earliest internetworking protocol suites, the PARC
Universal Packet.
In 1979, Xerox threw open its doors to anyone in the industry and
press, who might be interested in seeing their developments. Several Apple Computer employees, including Steve Jobs, visited
Xerox PARC that day. Jobs and the others saw the commercial potential of the WIMP (Window, Icon, Menu, and Pointing
device) system and redirected development of the Apple Lisa to incorporate these technologies. Jobs is quoted as saying, "They
just had no idea what they had." In 1980, Jobs invited several key PARC researchers to join his company so that they could
fully develop and implement their ideas.
In 1981 Xerox released a system similar to the Alto, the Xerox 8010
Star. It was the first commercial system to incorporate technologies that have subsequently become commonplace in personal
computers, such as a bitmapped display, window-based GUI, mouse, Ethernet networking, file servers, print servers and e-mail.
The Xerox 6085 Star, despite its technological breakthroughs, did not sell well due to its high price, costing $16,000 per
unit. A typical Xerox Star-based office, complete with network and printers, would have cost $100,000.
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