HOW BILL GATES AND STEVE JOBS ‘STOLE’ FROM XEROX
Boney Maundu
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How PARC invented the Graphical User Interface that Microsoft & Apple capitalized on
Among the greatest inventions of the 20th century is the personal computer. Even though Bill Gate’s Microsoft and Steve Job’s Apple rule the modern personal computer market, they did not create the inventions that made it possible for them to do so.
Xerox and PARC
When the 1960s were coming to an end, Xerox dominated the copier market. After developing the first copy machine that could be sold for a profit in 1959, they went on to achieve a virtual monopoly throughout the United States for the following ten years, bringing in more than half a billion dollars annually.
But soon, Xerox’s patents expired, opening the door for less expensive Japanese brands to challenge their monopoly. The management of Xerox granted their chief scientist, Jack Goldman, carte blanche to create whatever new technology that would enable the company to maintain its leadership in the face of this challenge.
Consequently, Jack established the Palo Alto Research Center, or PARC, in 1970, and began bringing together the most brilliant minds in computer science.
Complete freedom of thought was allowed. Nearly all of the ideas were open to criticism and frequently received criticism. The PARC researchers set out to work on cutting edge computer technology in this creative environment, including the computer mouse, Ethernet networking, and—most importantly—the graphical user interface, or GUI.
The Xerox Alto and the Graphical User Interface
Strangely enough, none of PARC’s advancements piqued the curiosity of Xerox management. The corporation believed that its highly profitable line of copiers was the only thing they should be concentrating on. But PARC persisted and in their persistence, they produced The Xerox Alto, a single product that combined all of their discoveries.
?A computer much ahead of its time, in fact. It had the same keyboard and mouse layout as modern computers and included word processing, email, and event reminders. However, the Xerox management were completely uninterested.
When they looked at the alto, they saw a very complicated workstation that would set them back $40,000 apiece. Just 2,000 machines were produced, and Xerox never proceeded with a commercial release.
Innovations in printers and copiers were the only things that Xerox managers cared about, and although they eventually got their wish, the PARC researchers were not pleased. It appeared as though all of their achievements had been in vain.
Steve Jobs & Apple
A considerable number?of them departed, either to form their own businesses or to work for Silicon Valley’s numerous burgeoning tech startups. That being said, PARC’s contributions weren’t in vain. After becoming well-known among techies, the research center’s activities eventually became apparent to Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs was very busy at the time, working on Apple’s Lisa and Macintosh projects. He initially had a lot of doubts about Xerox and wouldn’t go to PARC. However, he agreed to accompany them after a few of his staff members visited the location to see the amazing inventions?for themselves.
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Steve Jobs, after being implored by a few of his close confidants, visited PARC in 1979 to see for himself whatever was going on there. As per his own account, he was shown several inventions they were working on, among them being object-oriented programming and a networked computer system that had over 100 Alto computers networked together, suing email.
But he paid no heed to these two equally ground-breaking inventions because he had been enthralled by one other invention, the Graphical User Interface. To him, it was the most fascinating thing he had ever witnessed and it became apparent to him that computers in the future would eventually work this way.
He wanted a share of PARC’s achievement because he thought they were onto something special. Following the first meeting, Jobs set up complete technical demos for his whole programming team. He even sold 100,000 shares of Apple to Xerox and the management happily obliged him.
Bill Gates & Microsoft
Microsoft was collaborating with Apple concurrently as the first outside software developer for the soon-to-be Macintosh. Similar to Apple, Microsoft had acquired numerous former Park staff members, and Bill Gates had considerable knowledge on the advancements made by Xerox Auto.
Steve Jobs compelled Gates & Microsoft to sign a document as part of their 1981 agreement since he was aware of Bill gates’ knowledge about PARC’s inventions. The contract said that Microsoft could not produce mouse-based software until autumn of 1983, a year after the Mac’s launch. But the attorneys for Apple had neglected to factor in the possibility of project delays.
Windows and Microsoft Word
Production delays caused Apple to push back their launch dates, but the contract dates remained the same. And Bill Gates capitalized on this.
While the Macintosh wouldn’t make an appearance until 1984, Microsoft made a surprise announcement in 1983 at Comdex, an industry leading trade fair.
At the trade fair, Bill Gates debuted a mouse-based word processor named Microsoft Word, coupled with a graphical user interface environment he named Windows.
Naturally, Steve Jobs was furious and filed a lawsuit, but in the end, the judges found Gates not to have broken any laws. Gates made a well-known statement after Steve approached him and accused him of stealing.
“It seems more like we had a wealthy neighbor named Xerox together, and when I broke into his house to take the TV, I discovered that you had already taken it”.
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