[ih] Fwd: How Plato Influenced the Internet

[Bob Purvy]

cough, cough. I was there, Geoff. Were you?

On Mon, Jul 5, 2021 at 7:16 PM the keyboard of geoff goodfellow <
geoff at iconia.com> wrote:

> so your amazon link book description summarily sez:
>
> "
> Imagine a time before everyone stared at a screen, before fonts, icons,
> mice, and laser printers, before Apple and Microsoft… But tucked away in El
> Segundo and Palo Alto, Xerox engineers were dreaming and secretly building
> the modern personal computer. Who were these people who changed the world,
> and why did corporate management just want to sell copiers and printers?The
> author, Albert Cory,* was one of the engineers, charged with making that
> dream a reality and unknowingly starting a revolution. Inventing the Future
> is based on the true story of the Xerox Star, the computer that changed
> everything.
> "
>
> cough, Cough, COUGH... BUT, uhm, er, wasn't it, well, The Xerox Alto --
> the predecessor to the Xerox Star that summarily and actually really
> changed everything...¿¿¿
>
> suggested alternative books on this take on history of personal computing
> that changed everything:
>
> #1.) Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, then Ignored, the First
> Personal Computer
> June 1, 1999
> by Douglas K. Smith  (Author), Robert C. Alexander (Author)
> https://amzn.to/3AxGYHB
>
> "
> Ask consumers and users what names they associate with the multibillion
> dollar personal computer market, and they will answer IBM, Apple, Tandy, or
> Lotus. The more knowledgable of them will add the likes of Microsoft,
> Ashton-Tate, Compaq, and Borland. But no one will say Xerox. Fifteen years
> after it invented personal computing, Xerox still means "copy." Fumbling
> the Future tells how one of America's leading corporations invented the
> technology for one of the fastest-growing products of recent times, then
> miscalculated and mishandled the opportunity to fully exploit it. It is a
> classic story of how innovation can fare within large corporate structures,
> the real-life odyssey of what can happen to an idea as it travels from
> inspiration to implementation. More than anything, Fumbling the Future is a
> tale of human beings whose talents, hopes, fears, habits, and prejudices
> determine the fate of our largest organizations and of our best ideas. In
> an era in which technological creativity and economic change are so
> critical to the competitiveness of the American economy, Fumbling the
> Future is a parable for our times.
> "
>
>
> #2.) Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
> April 5, 2000
> by Michael A. Hiltzik  (Author)
> https://amzn.to/3ypqbVt
>
> "
> In the bestselling tradition of The Soul of a New Machine, Dealers of
> Lightning is a fascinating journey of intellectual creation. In the 1970s
> and '80s, Xerox Corporation brought together a brain-trust of engineering
> geniuses, a group of computer eccentrics dubbed PARC. This brilliant group
> created several monumental innovations that triggered a technological
> revolution, including the first personal computer, the laser printer, and
> the graphical interface (one of the main precursors of the Internet), only
> to see these breakthroughs rejected by the corporation. Yet, instead of
> giving up, these determined inventors turned their ideas into empires that
> radically altered contemporary life and changed the world.
>
> Based on extensive interviews with the scientists, engineers,
> administrators, and executives who lived the story, this riveting chronicle
> details PARC's humble beginnings through its triumph as a hothouse for
> ideas, and shows why Xerox was never able to grasp, and ultimately exploit,
> the cutting-edge innovations PARC delivered. Dealers of Lightning offers an
> unprecedented look at the ideas, the inventions, and the individuals that
> propelled Xerox PARC to the frontier of technohistoiy--and the corporate
> machinations that almost prevented it from achieving greatness.
> "
>
>
> geoff
>
> On Mon, Jul 5, 2021 at 2:06 PM Bob Purvy via Internet-history <
> internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
>> I just listened to the episode
>> <
>> https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-history-of-computing/id1472463802?i=1000511301793
>> >
>> about
>> PLATO on The History of Computing podcast, mostly because I'm being
>> interviewed for it tomorrow on my book
>> <
>> https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Future-Albert-Cory/dp/1736298615/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
>> >
>>
>
>
> --
> Geoff.Goodfellow at iconia.com
> living as The Truth is True
>
>
>
>