Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
by Michael A. Hiltzik
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael A. HiltzikEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-04-05
ISBN: 0887309895
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: HarperBusiness
Book Reviews of Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
Book Review: A case study on a pivital point in time.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) will be forever famous and criticized as the laboratory where many of today's computer science technology was developed, but commercialized by someone else. The technologies developed at PARC lead to the creation of Silicon Graphics, Adobe Systems, Pixar, Aurora Systems and 3Com, to name a few. Focusing on the PARC Computer Science (CSL) and Systems Science Laboratories (SSL), Michael Hiltzik's book offers an informative chronicle of the PARC legend. From its theoretical inception in 1969 by Jack Goldman, Xerox chief scientist, through the 1983 resignation of Robert Taylor, the man behind the CSL. Having assembled a first-rate research team, George Pake, the director of PARC, Robert Taylor and Allen Kay, the head of the Learning Research Group within the SSL, began their legendary work of creating the conceptual foundation and technologies of the computer age. The scientists at PARC formulated their visions of the future of computing in what became known as the "Pendery Papers". These documents served as the conceptual guide to the work that would be pursued at PARC. First came the MAXC computer, a clone of Digital Equipment's superbly designed PDP-10. The development of the laser printer, smalltalk and object oriented programming, the Alto (the first PC), Ethernet, the word processor, GUI, WYSIWYG, the mouse, desktop publishing, video animation and color graphics followed. The ideological struggle between the status quo bureaucrats at Xerox and the entrepreneurial visionaries at PARC continued to prevent the open-minded communication between the two camps that was required to make these ventures a success. The mounting frustration of having the corporate bureaucracy repeatedly stifle their creations became unbearable. The inevitable exodus of the labs' top talent was a pivotal point in technological history; it ended the era that began modern computing.
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