The Network is the Computer – UNIX and the SUN (Stanford University Network) Workstation

When computers began using “third generation” integrated circuit technology, processing speeds took a giant leap forward, and new computer languages and applications were enabled. From the time-sharing initiative by General Electric in the early sixties came BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) that allowed a new class of non-engineers and scientists to program the computer […]

WSJ in the Ether about the Internet

The privatization and commercialization of Cold War technology, a central part of the Reagan Revolution, entered the limelight during the 2012 presidential election with the attention given to the role of government in the economy. Controversy emerged recently with Gordon Crovitz’s opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Who Really Invented the Internet?” Crovitz’s […]

How IT Came to Rule the World, 1.9: Xerox PARC

The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) was sent up by Xerox in 1970 to establish leadership in the “architecture of information”, a sufficiently vague but enticing term coined by Xerox CEO Peter McColough. Drawing on Xerox’s great wealth, PARC harvested the fruits of ARPA’s continuous funding by hiring one of their former directors and by recruiting some of computer science’s top researchers. At PARC, Xerox developed the Alto and the Star, personalized computers with a GUI interface, mouse, and even Ethernet data networking. These PARC innovations inspired companies like Apple, Cisco and 3Com to develop new technologies like the Macintosh and data routers.