Xerox Star Demo (1/2)

Xerox Star at CHI '85 (8010 Star Graphics, the User Interface)

(1/2) http://youtube.com/watch?v=QYvxgNhUwBk
(2/2) http://youtube.com/watch?v=jttq6F6o_J4

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Xerox
• Star
• 1981
• GUI
• personal
• computer
• operating
• system
• 8010
• Graphics
• early
• 80s

[Dilekz]

That was also based on UNIX ??

[bigkif]

No, AFAIK that wasn't based on UNIX. Applications were written in MESA and running on an Operating System called Pilot.

[nintentubeWii]

this is incredible.

Xerox wasn't a pioneer; they were THE pioneer

[robdun]

They were way before mac. Mac users should know so they dont brag about being first.

[upiluften]

@nintentubeWii I know right, ever seen their copy machine ad from the 60's? They created a copy machine that was so easy to use, even women could use it!

25 years later, in 1985, they created a UI so easy that a bunch of coffee-sipping hipsters could use it!

[upiluften]

@capricious71 Xerox and Apple came up with an agreement which allowed Apple to use/improve the UI seen here, and allowed Xerox to buy Apple shares (stocks) at a low price.

[KCJacksonMuz]

Also to note .. . even though Douglas' team and Xerox came up with the very core of the GUI, Apple improved on it, and made it a consumer product. Star and Alto were huge expensive machines. The original Mac could be lifted with one hand, fit on almost any table, and cost much less. Everyone had their part to play in the history of the computer. It's an amazing history!

[KCJacksonMuz]

@capricious71 Xerox bought and developed further on it, then Apple made a deal with Xerox to use the GUI to develop their own, in trade for stock. Microsoft didnt make any deals or buy anything (like both Xerox and Apple did), they just stole it outright.

[Sismiques]

@robdun

Also they have the advanced tech of 2 mouser buttons, something Apples usually lack.

[capricious71]

What's laughable is that Apple sued Microsoft for stealing their look and feel, when Xerox had come up with it... or was it Douglas Englebart?

[boomboomdrums]

To Xerox' defense, PC hardware at the time couldn't do this stuff. It was run on pretty stout hardware for the time. that's one of the reasons it cost so much. Since it did cost so much, only major corporations could afford to buy them.

Jobs and Woz saw this stuff at a tour of PARC and ran with it. They did get sued by Xerox for it too and had to pay Xerox for a long time.

[mspeter97]

anybody has develpped an emulator for it?

[mmille10]

@cwilbr

MS has never really made a tablet. They came out with a version of Windows XP that ran on a tablet. Hardware manufacturers made them. Tablet computers were around long before the Tablet PC came along. I was developing software for tablet PCs in the mid-1990s. They were made by Telxon, though they ran like a low-memory PC. They could run MS-DOS and Windows 3.1. MS made a pen extension to Win 3.1 you could add so you could write on the screen with a stylus.

[cwilbr]

Apple have always stolen ideas from others so has MicroSoft - but Apple have NEVER been caught (when they should have esp with the recent tablet line - Ipad - that MS made nearly a decade ago...)