Techies all GUI-eyed as Xerox says goodbye to Palo Alto Research Center
(2023/04/25)
- Reference: 1682440452
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/04/25/xerox_parc_goodbye/
- Source link:
Xerox is donating the iconic Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in California to SRI International, a non-profit scientific research institute, apparently so the company can focus on other stuff.
Xerox PARC has acquired an almost legendary status in the annals of the IT industry as it directly contributed to key technologies that we take for granted with modern computers such as the mouse-driven graphical user interface (GUI), [1]Ethernet networking , and laser printers.
Here at The Register , we recently toasted the 50th anniversary of the [2]Xerox Alto , for example, which was made available for use by staff at PARC, although not sold as a commercial product.
[3]
Founded in 1970, PARC was eventually spun off by Xerox as a separate but wholly owned subsidiary in 2002. Now the lab's Silicon Valley headquarters and associated assets are being donated to SRI International so that Xerox can focus on "delivering new innovations around its print, digital and IT service offerings," the company said.
[4]
[5]
Chief executive Steve Bandrowczak claimed the move would allow Xerox and PARC to each focus on their respective strengths.
"With this arrangement, PARC's deep tech innovations will be sustained by SRI while allowing Xerox to simplify and optimize its operations and focus solutions on the continued evolution of hybrid work," he said in a statement.
[6]Turing Award goes to Robert Metcalfe, co-inventor of the Ethernet
[7]The Stonehenge of PC design, Xerox Alto, appeared 50 years ago this month
[8]Imagine a world where Apple shacked up with Xerox in the '80s: How might it look today?
[9]Co-inventor of the computer mouse, William English, dies
The arrangement involves a preferred research agreement, called the Technology Exploration and Innovation Program, in which SRI will continue to provide contracted research and development services to Xerox and its clients.
As part of this program, Xerox and SRI will identify R&D areas relevant to Xerox's core print, digital and IT Services business, with the goal of creating roadmaps to their implementation. It should be noted that Xerox has often been criticized for [10]failing to fully capitalize on the technologies it developed at PARC, allowing others such as Apple to build multibillion-dollar businesses out of its ideas instead.
[11]
Xerox is also to retain a branded "Innovation Hub" at PARC that will allow it to host meetings, demonstrations, and conferences for clients.
For its part, SRI hailed the move and said that it opens the door to new technological advances, and the "bold impact" for which both organizations are known.
"Some of the world's most defining innovations have been fueled by research from pioneering talent at both SRI International and PARC," said SRI chief executive David Parekh, citing the development and creation of Arpanet, a precursor to the internet.
[12]
SRI is gaining approximately 1,000 scientists and researchers out of the deal to boost its R&D in areas such as computational design, computer vision, and AI and human-machine collaboration. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2009/03/13/metcalfe_remembers/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/16/the_xerox_alto_50_years/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZEhNiWBJMHVlUwbMP0q7WgAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/23/turing_award_goes_to_robert/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/16/the_xerox_alto_50_years/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/14/alternative_history_computer_revolution/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/03/the_inventor_of_the_mouse/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2010/09/20/parc_40th_anniversary/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZEhNiWBJMHVlUwbMP0q7WgAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZEhNiWBJMHVlUwbMP0q7WgAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Xerox PARC has acquired an almost legendary status in the annals of the IT industry as it directly contributed to key technologies that we take for granted with modern computers such as the mouse-driven graphical user interface (GUI), [1]Ethernet networking , and laser printers.
Here at The Register , we recently toasted the 50th anniversary of the [2]Xerox Alto , for example, which was made available for use by staff at PARC, although not sold as a commercial product.
[3]
Founded in 1970, PARC was eventually spun off by Xerox as a separate but wholly owned subsidiary in 2002. Now the lab's Silicon Valley headquarters and associated assets are being donated to SRI International so that Xerox can focus on "delivering new innovations around its print, digital and IT service offerings," the company said.
[4]
[5]
Chief executive Steve Bandrowczak claimed the move would allow Xerox and PARC to each focus on their respective strengths.
"With this arrangement, PARC's deep tech innovations will be sustained by SRI while allowing Xerox to simplify and optimize its operations and focus solutions on the continued evolution of hybrid work," he said in a statement.
[6]Turing Award goes to Robert Metcalfe, co-inventor of the Ethernet
[7]The Stonehenge of PC design, Xerox Alto, appeared 50 years ago this month
[8]Imagine a world where Apple shacked up with Xerox in the '80s: How might it look today?
[9]Co-inventor of the computer mouse, William English, dies
The arrangement involves a preferred research agreement, called the Technology Exploration and Innovation Program, in which SRI will continue to provide contracted research and development services to Xerox and its clients.
As part of this program, Xerox and SRI will identify R&D areas relevant to Xerox's core print, digital and IT Services business, with the goal of creating roadmaps to their implementation. It should be noted that Xerox has often been criticized for [10]failing to fully capitalize on the technologies it developed at PARC, allowing others such as Apple to build multibillion-dollar businesses out of its ideas instead.
[11]
Xerox is also to retain a branded "Innovation Hub" at PARC that will allow it to host meetings, demonstrations, and conferences for clients.
For its part, SRI hailed the move and said that it opens the door to new technological advances, and the "bold impact" for which both organizations are known.
"Some of the world's most defining innovations have been fueled by research from pioneering talent at both SRI International and PARC," said SRI chief executive David Parekh, citing the development and creation of Arpanet, a precursor to the internet.
[12]
SRI is gaining approximately 1,000 scientists and researchers out of the deal to boost its R&D in areas such as computational design, computer vision, and AI and human-machine collaboration. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2009/03/13/metcalfe_remembers/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/16/the_xerox_alto_50_years/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZEhNiWBJMHVlUwbMP0q7WgAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZEhNiWBJMHVlUwbMP0q7WgAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZEhNiWBJMHVlUwbMP0q7WgAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/23/turing_award_goes_to_robert/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/16/the_xerox_alto_50_years/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/14/alternative_history_computer_revolution/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/03/the_inventor_of_the_mouse/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2010/09/20/parc_40th_anniversary/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZEhNiWBJMHVlUwbMP0q7WgAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZEhNiWBJMHVlUwbMP0q7WgAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I had no idea Xerox still had it
DS999
With all the companies cutting back on R&D I would have bet good money they had unloaded it back when their stock price fell 90% with the dot com bust.
currently on sale at amazon (kindle)
Sparkus
Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, Then Ignored, the First Personal Computer
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0791LWDG3
Need to cut them slack
Kevin McMurtrie
There was a lot of random innovation going on and no time travelers to say which one was right. Early GUIs needed expensive hardware and time-consuming coding.
The PARC/Mac GUI was ported to the Apple ][ series and it was a failure. That GUI needed huge investment and marketing to get going.
Companies Failing to Market and Profit from their Employees' Inventions
An_Old_Dog
Xerox isn't the only company to fail to market a cool+useful thing their employees made.
I saw a photo of 3M employees holding a huge roll of e-ink "paper" they had made. Ten or twenty years after that, it started showing up in computer black-and-white displays (e-book readers, bus status displays).
Nobody has created what I hoped for from it: giant, completely-covers-the-wall black-and-white computer displays (even though they would have slow refresh), and, nearly-infinitely reusable electronic "paper" which has ultimate security: run it through the "erasing" machine, all the little balls inside twist to the "white" position, the "paper" is ready for re-use, and no data recovery from that sheet is possible.
Not for profit
I often wonder if the management of Xerox ever realized quite how special PARC was, or how much money other firms would make from their work.