Today, when we think of PCs, we think of (maybe) IBM and (definitely) Microsoft Windows. And when we think of photocopiers, we think of Xerox.
But it all could have been so different. In its Research Center at Palo Alto (PARC), scientists working for Xerox developed the first personal computers and the first graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The Alto personal computer was first developed in 1973 -- almost two decades before IBM PCs would take the world by storm!
Missed opportunities? Perhaps, but at least Xerox managed to corner the photocopier market, and their errors can be forgiven when we realise that, in 1943, IBM chairman Thomas Watson forecast a world market for "maybe only five computers."
The fascinating history of Xerox's inventions -- from photocopiers and business applications to more general computing devices -- is recounted on the PARC website.
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