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Summary: AN ABSORBING PORTRAIT OF THE EARLY YEARS AT PARC
Review: Computer history is full of great human drama and not a few myths, none so enduring as the story of Steve Jobs stealing technology from Xeroc PARC. In this absorbing book about the famous research institution, Michael Hiltzik puts his own interpretation on the legacy of PARC. He lets Xerox off the hook from the usual charges that they "blew it" when it came to exploiting the amazing inventions that came out of PARC.But Hiltzik's book does not focus on the Jobs incident, rather he gives us portraits of the men and women whose talents and vision produced computers that were way ahead of their time. The first group of engineers working for Jack Goldman and George Pake in a warehouse across from Stanford University actually built a computer that acted much like the DEC PDP-10 that they wanted to buy. They were told they couldn't have one because Xerox had purchased rival computer-maker SDS, whose products were decidedly inferior. So the talented team simply built themselves a clone. Later, they followed Alan Kay's dream of a small personal computer and created the Alto, a true personal computer that had a mouse and graphical interface and built-in ethernet-- in 1973! Kay also created the first object-oriented language, Smalltalk, which was perfect for writing user-friendly applications for the Alto. The number of innovations that came from PARC is truly astonishing, but none of them ever came to market. This book provides some of the answers as to why Xerox did not turn its research into profits. While pouring money into PARC, they were also having problems with their main business, which was leased copiers. The Japanese were making smaller cheaper copiers that were eating into Xerox's business markets and that was a major distraction. Xerox also lacked the means to sell computers. Their salesmen usually dealt with office managers; they knew nothing about computers. The products created at PARC were marvelous (everyone wanted an Alto once they saw one in operation), but they were created with no thought to marketing. Each Alto was hand-built and would have to be sold for a hefty price. Xerox did sell some to the Carter administration for the government information office, but never set up a factory to build Altos. The other problem with marketing the products from PARC was the blindness of the company, including its brilliant researchers, toward the revolution happening right outside their door with small computers. Some of their engineers, like Larry Tesler, Charles Simonyi and Bob Metcalf, did see the potential and left for greener pastures (Tesler to Apple, Simonyi to Microsoft, and Metcalf to found 3Com). But as a company, Xerox had no notion that small cheap computers were about to take the market by storm. When they finally incorporated the Alto technology into the Xerox Star, it was too big, too slow, and too expensive. IBM came out with its PC and businesses bought the cheaper product. The author gives too much credit to IBM, however. The microcomputer revolution was already in full swing and it was only the hubris of the ultra talented researchers PARC employed that kept them from seeing that it was the self-taught garage geeks, not PhD scientists with money to burn, who were the true initiators of personal computing. As for the visit of Steve Jobs, Hiltzik says there were three visits, with progressively more encompassing demonstrations of the Alto-Smalltalk products. He says all of the participants seem to remember it differently, but Jobs has always felt the emphasis on what he learned at Xerox takes away from the talent and vision that already existed at Apple. The author says it was inevitable that Apple would do a better job of selling the public on a graphical interface than a tradition-bound bureaucratic organization like Xerox. It was simply fate that Apple brought out the Lisa and the Macintosh while Xerox brought out the doomed Star.
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Summary: Who knew Xerox invented it all?
Review: Few are aware that Xerox created an R&D group in California, known as PARC, that ultimately invented all we currently know about PC's and Mac's. This book does an excellent job of describing how the greatest technical advance of the 20th century was invented by Xerox who had no idea of what it owned and ultimately lost control of almost all of its intellectual property.
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Summary: The Whole Story is Here
Review: Hiltzik has done a superb job of bringing the story of Xerox PARC to life and placing it in the context of everything else that was going on at the time and the history that brought technology to that point. As someone who lived through that period, I found the book a much more objective and honest look at PARC and Xerox's role than Fumbling the Future or any other treatment. He doesn't let Xerox off easy by any means--in fact his treatment of Xerox's role has much more credibility than anything else I've seen, because it is so three-dimensional. Anyone who wants to understand today's technology, not to mention the role of Doug Engelbart and his lab, should read this terrific book!
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Summary: Tory Adair-Pepperdine Ed Tech Doctoral Student
Review: Hiltzik has done a wonderful service in trying to piece together and explain what took place at Xerox PARC. It is very difficult to accurately reconstruct history but there is much that we learn from it if it has been reconstructed appropriately. This book is full of real-life lessons. The undertones of "Dealers of Lightning" speak of the value of research and of the limitations companies so often run into. From the successes and failures of Xerox, we can see how much more businesses have to gain by breaking through bureaucracy, improving communication, striving to understand one another, following well developed visions, breaking through political lines, and the potential of open research. It is so easy to see the potential that Xerox PARC had unearthed, from hindsight, and be critical toward Xerox's lack of exploiting it. Hopefully, from reading this book, we will be more conscious of what may be lying dormant in our own companies. It is very comforting that Xerox PARC paid for itself and brought a handsome return through the few technologies that were exploited. This should be an encouragement to us all in supporting good research. We could use more PARC's to improve our lives through visionary research. It is a credit to Hiltzik that he tempered his criticism in "Did Xerox Blow It?" and recognized the difficulty of bringing new technologies to market. Though I rate this book very highly and have recommend it to others to read, I found at times that it was difficult to keep up with the number of characters that were introduced, especially during the early beginnings at PARC. I also found the flow disrupted with unnecessary details from time to time. However, considering the difficulty of "striking the perfect balance" and the differences in reader's tastes, I consider this a minor consideration. In summary, I was glad to learn that a Ph.D. appeared to be useful to someone. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!
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Summary: Dealers of Lightning
Review: Hiltzik seems more interested in the celebrity of the PARC players and the "gee whiz" aspects of their inventions than in the tougher questions about what makes innovation work inside large corporations. Fumbling the Future, in contrast, takes on the far more interesting and important issues - and does a better job of addressing them. So good in fact that, when Hiltzik finally gets to issue, he does so by asking, "Did Xerox fumble the future?". By the way, I've noticed that Fumbling has just been republished....nice to see.
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Summary: reading for managers and engineers
Review: hiltzik's book is an excellent chronicle of what went on during the establishment, rise, and subsequence change of Xerox PARC. started by strong willed people who were uncompromising, this headstrong attitude was a powerful force which lead to many great successes, and later was responsible for PARC's downfall. by taking the first person account and talking to the people who were at PARC, hiltzik brings us right there, into the labs. broken into the tales of major events and developments, the stories progress with an enjoyable beauty for engineers. always present in the backdrop, from beginning to end, is the management and political side of PARC. we see great moments in the development of the laser printer, but just how hard it was for Xerox to understand the need for something that would go on to make them tremendous amounts of money. this is a worthwhile book for both engineers and managers to read. engineers will enjoy the thrill of discovery, the tales of creation and the exhileration of research captured so eloquently by hiltzik. managers should read this book, as well, to gain an understanding of the role of research in a large organization, how it relates to product development. Xerox's PARC experiences are at once fantastic achievements in computer science and computational products, but they are also failures in developing actual products. we see how gates and jobs scooped in and adapted many of the same technologies to win the market, and we learn how Xerox could have never made this happen for themselves. all in all a very interesting, timely, and well written book.
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Summary: Extremely Good Book about Computer R&D
Review: I do not know why this book was never more popular. It is a great read and has lots of detail on the evolution of computer R&D. It is a very well written and detailed book about the computer R&D from Boston-Washington to Palo Alto at HP - written like a smooth flowing novel. It is mainly about Xerox and the research people and how they eventually decided to move the computer R&D to California. But it includes a lot more stuff. It Includes DARPA funding of the internet and work at MIT, and in house fighting at Xerox, and then the evolution of the projects in California. Xerox did not run with the ball in an effective way post 1980 but the technology and people went on to other companies such as Microsoft, Apple, and HP. Also there was a lot of innovative work that was transferred to industry. It gives a lot of insight into the evolution of computer systems and the internet and local networks and on and on. It covers the people - grad students, scientists, spin off companies, crazed computer types working all night - that are just as interesting as the wires and machines. Great book, one of the best ever Tech Books. Jack in Toronto
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Summary: engrossing and inspiring story
Review: I found this book to be an engrossing tale of the personalities and technologies that resided in Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)--some invented there, some developed more fully there, and many only being produced by other companies due to Xerox's short-sightedness. The laser printer, the mouse, windowing systems and overlapping windows, bitmapped graphics, computer processing of video images, the personal computer, Ethernet, email.
Hiltzik does a good job of presenting many faces in a large cast of characters and describing the alliances and clashes within Xerox PARC (and between PARC and the rest of Xerox). Of particular note is the greater detail on the story of Steve Jobs visits to PARC and how they occurred (Xerox was briefly an investor in Apple), in far more detail than has been given elsewhere (e.g., in Levy's Insanely Great).
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Summary: Where's the business logic?
Review: I have been a fan of the story of Xerox PARC ever since reading "Fumbling the Future" by Douglas Smith and Robert Alexander. In fact the lessons I learned contributed to my leaving engineering to get a business degree. I was surprised to read through "Dealers of lightning" and come across the Epilogue. In fact, I was actually disturbed by how easily the author relieved Xerox of its opportunity (and obligation from a shareholders perspective) to capitalize on the creativity and ingenuity of Xerox PARC. Those of us within the high-tech community certainly appreciate the open ended research that Xerox PARC conducted which has lined the pockets of so many that were never in any way associated with Xerox. However, if I was a shareholder of Xerox or any other company, I would be horrified by any management rationale that 'you are not obligated to exploit the technologies created within your labs'. Granted you may not be able to exploit all, but how about most? Xerox is not the government and is not using tax dollars for a collective good. I found the logic flawed and violates the basic motivations for establishing a commercial entity. I would recommend that for a business minded individual that you go read "Fumbling the Future." Reading "Dealers of lightning" was like watching a lawyer weave a case for premeditated murder against an accused and then claim temporary insanity as the final defense.
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Summary: A Great Addition to the Literature of Scientific Inquiry
Review: I picked up this book late one evening and next thing I knew it was 3 a.m.! The author has done the best job since The Double Helix at communicating the excitementof discovery. The personalities simply leap off the page--Bob Taylor, Bob Metcalfe, and Alan Kay especially. Perhaps what's best about this book is that it doesn't talk down to the reader. It treats you as an intelligent individual curious about the roots of today's technology, shows you how it works and how the ideas occurred to its inventors, ands explains in vivid detail why Xerox could NEVER have put this great stuff into the marketplace even if it tried. A great addition to the history of science.
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