© Mark Ollig
On April 27, 1973, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) unveiled the Alto, a landmark digital computer featuring a unique user interface.
Douglas Engelbart’s pioneering NLS (oN-Line System) computing software of overlapping windows, hypertext, and mouse control, which he demonstrated in 1968, was further developed and used in the Alto computer.
The Alto contained a graphical user interface (GUI – pronounced “gooey”), using a bit-mapped high-resolution vertical screen of 606 by 808 pixels navigated using a mouse.
It also featured a “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) software tool, allowing users to edit content in a form that closely resembles its final appearance when printed or displayed.
The Alto performed document handling and processing, program file transfers, email sending, and graphic design applications.
They navigated through file menus, program icons, side windows, and check boxes.
The three-button mouse used to perform these tasks was designed by Bill English, a Xerox computer engineer, based on the point-and-click device he and Engelbart created in 1964.
The GUI replaced text-based commands with labeled program icons, sliding windows, and clickable menus that users navigated seamlessly with simple mouse clicks.
In 1973, Xerox also developed Ethernet, a wired local area network (LAN) technology that tethered Alto workstations, enabling effortless data sharing, multitasking, and document printing across compatible Xerox machines.
This cornerstone technology laid the foundation for the interconnected future of computing devices.
The Alto computer featured an Ethernet port and marked a significant technological milestone, introducing a new era of networked computing devices.
Xerox installed Alto computers within their organization and in four testing sites, including one in the Oval Office of the White House in 1978.
In a 1975 interview, Engelbart said, “It’s very nice to see some of the ideas that originated at SRI showing up in the Xerox system.”
In 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer.
In November 1979, Steve Jobs, then-president of Apple, visited PARC with other Apple employees.
Jobs was dumbfounded to see Xerox employees interacting with the Alto computer’s graphical user interface by operating a mouse and not using keyboard text commands.
“I thought it was the best thing I’d ever seen in my life. And within, you know, ten minutes, it was obvious to me that all computers would work like this someday,” Steve Jobs reportedly said about the Xerox Alto.
Jobs also saw Xerox’s Ethernet and laser printers.
By the end of the 1970s, Xerox Corporation was using 1,000 Altos and had placed 500 in government, educational, and research institutions, including one in the Oval Office of the White House.
A Xerox video showcasing their Alto computer office system can be found at http://tinyurl.com/XeroxAltoPC.
The 1973 cost of an Alto computing system was $32,000, equivalent to $226,700 today.
Perhaps due to the cost, the Alto computer was never commercially sold by Xerox, which discontinued its production in 1981.
However, April 27, 1981, Xerox began commercially selling a computer/workstation, the Xerox Star 8010 Information System, built on the Xerox Alto GUI platform.
The Star featured accurate “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” document editing and integrated software applications like spreadsheets, graphics, and email.
Its Ethernet core design simplified file sharing and printing management within a local area networked environment.
Dr. David Canfield Smith, one of the designers of Xerox Star, is credited with inventing computer icons and the desktop presentation, which revolutionized how we interact with today’s computers.
The sales of the Xerox Star 8010 were low due to its high price tag of $16,595.
Xerox ended production in 1985 to concentrate on its core business of printers and copiers.
On Jan. 19, 1983, Apple began marketing the Apple Lisa desktop computer, operated through a graphical user interface.
The name Lisa sparked a debate; Apple stated it stood for Local Integrated Software Architecture, while others said the computer was named after Steve Jobs’s daughter, Lisa.
The Apple Lisa was a personal computer with an enhanced graphical user interface with drag-and-drop icons, customizable settings, windows, pull-down menus, a trash can, spreadsheets, graphics, and word processing.
Lisa used a 5 MHz Motorola CPU with 1-2 MB RAM, dual 5.25-inch floppy drives, a 5-10 MB hard drive, a 12-inch black and white monochrome raster display with a resolution of 720 pixels by 364 pixels, and a model A9M0050 mouse based on the one used with the Xerox Alto.
However, Lisa’s high price of $9,995 ($31,207.80 today) limited its sales, and by 1986 production ended.
By 1983, personal computers like IBM, Commodore, Atari, Texas Instruments, Tandy/RadioShack, Kaypro, Compaq, and Sinclair became popular but lacked graphical user interfaces.
On Jan. 24, 1984, Apple launched the Macintosh, an all-in-one desktop computer with a built-in screen, mouse, and user-friendly GUI with desktop icons, pull-down menus, and drag-and-drop functionality.
It received acclaim and became famous for its ease of use, stable operating system, and graphical user interface.
In 1989, Xerox Corporation filed a $150 million lawsuit against Apple Computer, Inc.
Xerox claimed Apple’s Lisa and Macintosh computers violated its intellectual property regarding its graphical user interface elements.
Stay tuned for next week’s gooey showdown.
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1973 Xerox Alto.Photo by Carlo Nardone, Computer History Museum.The picture includes the Alto's 3-button mouse and the optional 5-key chorded keyboard (chord keyset) which never became popular. |
