INTRODUCTION
Palo Alto Research Center, otherwise known as PARC, is an independent research and development company as of 2002. It had its foundations as part of Xerox in 1970 (Savitz, 2011). Xerox was founded in 1906 originally dealing in the production of photographic paper and equipment. They went on to produce printers, photo copiers and other related supplies. PARC were heavily engaged in the development of personal computers, blazing a trail for companies such as Apple and Microsoft. Currently, they are conducting research into areas such as clean technology, user interface design, ubiquitous computing etc.
DISCUSSION
Being the hub of hot innovations during the seventies, PARC left a noteworthy impression. Amongst their remarkable inventions were:
The ball mouse: Developed by PARC employee William English in 1972, in conjunction with Douglas Engelbart and his original patented idea for creating a pointing device.
GUI: Graphical User Interface. It can be described as a visual language which allows us to interact with images as opposed to text commands. Text commands are a lot more complex by nature (Computer Hope, 2011). The introduction of GUI simplified the process for the typical user.
WIMP: Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing Device. Developed in 1973, WIMP enables human interaction with a computer through a Graphical User Interface.
WYSIWYG Text Editor: Shows an on-screen representation of what the finished product will look like. This was first seen used as part of a document preparation program in 1974.
Object-Oriented Programming: Programming where the data structure becomes an object incorporating both data and functions.
Ethernet: Arising in 1973, it was a method of helping computer systems to connect with each other by sharing packets of information back and forth. This enabled e-mails to be shared on the world’s first Ethernet network.
Xerox Alto: Developed in 1973, this was the first personal computer to use a mouse-driven GUI. It was a non-commercial product, instead being used by Xerox in their own offices. It laid the foundations for the development of the Xerox Star and the Apple Macintosh.
Xerox Star: This personal computer had a commercial release in 1981 incorporating WIMP, GUI, Ethernet, print servers, e-mail etc. This was a costly device, setting the buyer back approximately $16,500 a unit (Hiltzik, 1998). This could be one of the reasons the Star lacked commercial success and ultimately was a failure.
The creation of the Graphical User Interface changed the face of computing forever. No longer was an in-depth knowledge required to operate a computer, as with Command Line Interface or CLI based models (MSCOM, 2007). Along with WIMP, people could now simply use their pointing device to select the icon they wanted. This would then bring up a menu or open a program. This broadened the potential market enormously. With the addition of an Ethernet connection, nothing seemed impossible. PARC demonstrated the new connectivity by the transmission of e-mails through a number of their computers on site. Ethernet allowed connectivity within a building, this is similar but not quite the same as the internet (Bellis, 2011). The combination of all of these things together formed the basis of modern networking.
PARC’s blending of WIMP and GUI changed computing forever. It inspired Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs, to shift the direction of developments in his own company (Gladwell, 2011). After visiting PARC in 1979, he went on to alter the design of the Apple Lisa which incorporated these ideas (Bellis, 2011). Although the Lisa didn’t thrive as much as was anticipated, Apple were more successful with their release of the Macintosh in 1984. It was around this time that Microsoft, in partnership with IBM, were beginning to break into the market with their own personal computers.
The success of personal computing and the advances therein led to greater consumer demand which in turn created a need for connectivity. Ethernet allowed devices within a short distance of each other to connect. But connecting computers that are separated from each other was a new task. Thus the internet was born.
CONCLUSION
Despite their enormous contribution, PARC however, could not compete with Apple and Microsoft/IBM who were steadily growing. Subsequently they withdrew completely from personal computing. Their contribution to technology overall has been nothing short of exceptional. They far exceeded computing expectations of that time, thinking outside the box and going on to create what was essentially a stroke of genius in the Graphical User Interface. This allowed other companies to further build upon these ideas and capitalise.
PARC continue in their efforts to bring new ideas to fruition (PARC, 2011). They are a valued enterprise with humble beginnings as part of Xerox, who were sometimes slow to recognise the true value of PARC’s creations. Their work has moulded computing as we now know it, which we can sometimes take for granted. But the evidence is all around us in how exactly we interact with computers and even each other. PARC set the standard for modern computing.
REFERENCES
Eric Savitz, 2011, retrieved on October 6th 2011 <http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2011/07/01/xerox-parc-still-inventing-cool-new-stuff-after-all-these-years/>
Computer Hope, 2011, retrieved on October 6th 2011 <http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000619.htm>
Michael A. Hiltzik, 1998, retrieved on October 6th 2011 <http://articles.latimes.com/1998/jun/22/business/fi-62387/2>
MSCOM, 2007, retrieved on October 6th 2011 <http://blogs.technet.com/b/mscom/archive/2007/03/12/the-gui-versus-the-command-line-which-is-better-part-1.aspx>
Mary Bellis, 2011, retrieved on October 6th 2011 <http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa111598.htm>
Malcolm Gladwell, 2011, retrieved on October 6th 2011 <http://newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/16/110516fa_fact_gladwell>
Mary Bellis, 2011, retrieved on October 6th 2011 <http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa043099.htm>
PARC, 2011, retrieved on October 6th 2011 <http://www.parc.com/services/focus-area/intelligent-mobile-computing>
Angelina Brady