How Xerox Revolutionized the Way We Use Computers

Did you wonder how you feel about seeing how PC does it and why we use strange equipment called mouse? Most people do not. However, what is buried in the history of Xerox is that it has been innovated, missed the opportunity, and did not leave familiar footprints in the computer industry. The impact of Xerox on the computer industry This story began 40 years ago at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in Xerox, California. In the early 1970 's, copying machine company Xerox began worrying that the future would be a paperless world.

In 1984 when I was in the United States, Xerox invented Ethernet, Xerox invented Windows, Xerox invented object-oriented programming. When Xerox was fully launched in 1984, the three major inventions in today's computer industry came from the laboratory. It's not beautiful, so it's dead. When I sold it for $ 14,000 in 1984, I saw Xerox 's Star Workstation in the shop. All of these zeros are astronomical numbers for me. At that time, I got too much computer for $ 2,000. But in any case, $ 2,000 is 7 times better than $ 14,000. If you say that the car was 5000 dollars at that time, there are 7 times you think that the house was 100 thousand dollars, and your wife will not let you buy a computer. Then you try to say to her that it will cut the price in half in two years, you can forget it. Therefore, it obviously sells badly. But since Xerox knows what Windows is, what the Internet is, and what is object-oriented programming, why does not it cut down?

Xerox is known for its copy machine. In the customer's head, the flexibility of the brand is insufficient to extend from the office copy machine to the office computer. Do you purchase Xerox mobile phones? Luo. The truth is that they invented many techniques they could not use because they did not accept it. It is Apple, IBM, and Microsoft that bring some of Xerox's key ideas to market and work. Do you know that people prefer the Mac's graphical interface? Yes, Xerox invented this first. A little mouse

Xerox Palo Alto Research Center has developed a laser printer, computer generated bitmap graphics (WYSIWYG), graphical user interface, computer mouse, etc. with the freedom to create Silicon Valley human dream by the end of the 1970s and innovate freely . Resolution of graphical page description language (PostScript), local computer network (Ethernet), object oriented computer programming, prototype based programming, model view controller software architecture. All of these technologies are integrated into a prototype office computer called Xerox Alto. Xerox executives at Rochester headquarters in New York believe that Xerox's advanced technology believes it too high for companies that do not need these advanced science fiction techniques.