- Jim
-----Original Message-----
From: Dag Spicer [mailto:spicer@tcm.org]
Sent: Monday, June 08, 1998 11:04 AM
To: chc@tcm.org
Subject: LECTURE: "The Xerox Star Runs One More Time."
Bay Area Computer History Perspectives
and
The Computer Museum History Center
present
"The Xerox Star runs one more time"
5:30 PM, Wednesday, June 17
Auditorium
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
3333 Coyote Hill Road
Palo Alto
David Curbow David Liddle David Smith
Sun Microsystems Interval Research Stagecraft Software
Robert Belleville Robert Garner
Clockmaker Sun Microsystems
Seventeen years ago, the computer interface technology we take for
granted today was new and strange, difficult even to describe. These
quotes from a 1981 Xerox Star brochure show how people were fumbling for
words to describe the new computer desktop technology:
"Objects displayed on the Xerox 8010 screen are freely movable using the
hand-held pointer, or 'mouse' ... this unique digital pointer ... will
also initiate sequences for the relocation, copying, and deletion of
material, and the retrieval and transmission of documents."
"The iconographic symbols ... bear labels which identify them as folders,
in- and out-baskets, file drawers, and other accessories comprising
what amounts to an 'electronic desk top'."
"Abstractly speaking, the spreadsheet expresses variable dependencies
over time. It is basically an electronic matrix with a full menu of
matrix manipulation tools."
Mice, folders, and spreadsheets were all new and strange to the
marketplace. Even who exactly was going to use the computer wasn't
always clear.
This talk will feature a Star running, with commentary. The display
will be shown on a wide video screen for the entire audience. Eleven
other Stars behind the scenes are being used for parts to keep this one
machine running, and this could be the last occasion ever to see a Star
run.
David Liddle directed the Star development effort, and will provide an
overview. David Curbow and David Smith will do a demonstration of the
user interface, and then Robert Belleville and Robert Garner will
discuss the Star hardware---which was also innovative.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
These talks are sponsored by The Computer Museum History Center and Sun
Microsystems.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Directions to Xerox PARC in Palo Alto:
From Highway 101---take the Oregon Expressway exit west 2 miles to El
Camino Real. Oregon Expressway becomes Page Mill Road at El Camino
Real. Follow Page Mill Road another 1.7 miles to Coyote Hill Road (no
light), just past Foothill Expwy, and turn left. Proceed 1/2 mile up
Coyote Hill Road, over the top of the hill, to PARC. Follow the signs
to the auditorium.
From Highway 280---take the Page Mill Road exit. Go east one mile on
Page Mill, and then turn right on Coyote Hill Road (no light). Proceed
1/2 mile on Coyote Hill Road, over the top of the hill, and PARC will
be on your left. Follow the signs to the auditorium.
-- Dag Spicer Manager, Historical Collections The Computer Museum History Center Moffett Federal Airfield Mountain View, CA 94035Offices: Building T12-A Exhibit Area: Building 126
Tel: +1 650 604 2578 Fax: +1 650 604 2594 E-m: spicer@tcm.org WWW: http://www.tcm.org/history/
<spicer@tcm.org> PGP: 15E31235 (E6ECDF74 349D1667 260759AD 7D04C178)
SV/T12
-- Dag Spicer Manager, Historical Collections The Computer Museum History Center Moffett Federal Airfield Mountain View, CA 94035Offices: Building T12-A Exhibit Area: Building 126
Tel: +1 650 604 2578 Fax: +1 650 604 2594 E-m: spicer@tcm.org WWW: http://www.tcm.org/history/
<spicer@tcm.org> PGP: 15E31235 (E6ECDF74 349D1667 260759AD 7D04C178)
SV/T12