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Summary: The best book ever about inventors and their work
Review: Reading this book is like watching 100 Thomas Edisons at work in their lab. The author, Michael Hiltzik, is brilliant at communicating the excitement of discovery and explaining how the inventions actually work. And he portrays PARC against an amazingly dramatic background of personal tensions, conflicts with bosses, and changes in the outside world. Reading this book is like reading a thriller--it's a page-turner about a bunch of truly unsung geniuses.
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Summary: I was frustrated by this longwinded account of Xerox/PARC
Review: The one-sided "positive" viewpoint that Michael Hiltzik presented in "Dealers of Lightning" was very frustrating. As I read through the -- admittedly very interesting -- history of PARC, I kept waiting for Hiltzik move away from his glowing historical account to some new insights into Xerox's inability to implement PARC's achievements.
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Summary: A case study on a pivital point in time.
Review: The Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) will be forever famous and criticized as the laboratory where many of today's computer science technology was developed, but commercialized by someone else. The technologies developed at PARC lead to the creation of Silicon Graphics, Adobe Systems, Pixar, Aurora Systems and 3Com, to name a few. Focusing on the PARC Computer Science (CSL) and Systems Science Laboratories (SSL), Michael Hiltzik's book offers an informative chronicle of the PARC legend. From its theoretical inception in 1969 by Jack Goldman, Xerox chief scientist, through the 1983 resignation of Robert Taylor, the man behind the CSL. Having assembled a first-rate research team, George Pake, the director of PARC, Robert Taylor and Allen Kay, the head of the Learning Research Group within the SSL, began their legendary work of creating the conceptual foundation and technologies of the computer age. The scientists at PARC formulated their visions of the future of computing in what became known as the "Pendery Papers". These documents served as the conceptual guide to the work that would be pursued at PARC. First came the MAXC computer, a clone of Digital Equipment's superbly designed PDP-10. The development of the laser printer, smalltalk and object oriented programming, the Alto (the first PC), Ethernet, the word processor, GUI, WYSIWYG, the mouse, desktop publishing, video animation and color graphics followed. The ideological struggle between the status quo bureaucrats at Xerox and the entrepreneurial visionaries at PARC continued to prevent the open-minded communication between the two camps that was required to make these ventures a success. The mounting frustration of having the corporate bureaucracy repeatedly stifle their creations became unbearable. The inevitable exodus of the labs' top talent was a pivotal point in technological history; it ended the era that began modern computing.
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Summary: good stuff
Review: This book gives you the raw details of what went into the creation and running of the most (in)famous research facility in computing. A captivating book of human drama, lessons, sucesses and failures. Any one who has an interest in the history of an important revolution in computing should find it a good read.
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Summary: A real 'back to the future' experience.
Review: This book will capture the imagination of anyone who has ever wondered about the beginnings of digital computing, printing, networking and the internet. It is also a fascinating look into the corporate politics of Xerox and it's positive and negative effects on PARC and the inventions it spawned. Well researched and written by Michael Hiltzik, although you might need your dictionary if your vocabulary is only average. Some photographs of the key players and inventions would have been a nice addition to this otherwise fine book. A must-read for Xeroids.
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Summary: A good read about software history
Review: This is a gripping history about key software innovations that underlie much current US economic success. These software technologies are now deeply embedded in everyday business practices and they formed a launching pad for today's computer-based communications and the Internet. As traditional US manufacturing declines in competitiveness, it is hard to imagine that the US would be enjoying its current prosperity if basic innovations like those developed by PARC and by early ARPA research had not occurred when they did. As a technical participant in the Xerox Star commercialization effort, I worked with many of the PARC researchers described here. Hiltzik tells a very balanced and nuanced story that certainly captures the concepts, dynamics, and conflicts of that time. One can quibble with whether the participants' recollections are always fair, but Hiltzik's story about these exciting times is basically accurate with respect to the personalities and events that I knew, and he fills in a wealth of background and details that I didn't know. This book corrects a lot of misinformation about PARC research and Xerox commercialization efforts. It is a good read for anybody interested in the history of technology. It should be required reading for everybody in research management--for many examples of what to do and what not to do. This history should also be read by anyone who believes another big leap in software technology can be achieved while research funding is cut back, universities are drained of their talent, and almost everyone competitively focuses on six month commercialization goals.
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Summary: Why computers are the way they are.
Review: This is a highly insightful book that will change the way you use computers. It is highly entertaining. A real insight into the geniuses who created the presonal computer revelution. A very enjoyable book.
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Summary: How could this happen?
Review: This is the question you ask yourself when you first hear the stories of what went on at the fabled Xerox PARC advanced computer research facility in Palo Alto, California during the early 70's. How could a company literally lay the foundations for the entire personal computer industry, sink millions and millions of dollars into a pure research facility, see it create products light years ahead of anything anyone had ever seen before, and then let the whole thing slip through their fingers? It seems impossible that any company, no matter how slow-moving or near-sighted, could behave so stupidly. And in large part, it is. Author Hiltzik does a great job of dispelling the myth that Xerox totally failed to realize any of the potential of thier problem child in the sun-baked hills of California, as well as painting an epic picture of the group of geniuses and rabble-rousers who railed against the stifling beaurocracy of mothercorp Xerox and developed the basic tenants of the personal computer industry from the whole cloth of their extreme vision. Inter-office politics, as well as animosity from headquarters all play their part in frustrating the efforts of these electronic soothsayers, as well as make the few triumphs to come out of PARC all the more remarkable. From the first powerful graphics displays and GUI driven interfaces like those featured in the vaunted 1973 Alto PC, to the genius of the Ethernet networking system, to the mechanical marvel of the first laser printers, one is continually astonished by how much of what we now take totally for granted was developed in the early 70's in a research organization whose concept today would be nearly unthinkable. Also intertwined in the PARC story is Apple co-founder Steve Job's now-famous raiding of these priceless treasure out from under the nose of Xerox for use in his own designs. In the annals of great corporate fumblings and opportunities missed, the tale of PARC and thier incredible acheivements ranks among the most dramatic. This is an accessable and well-written document of it, of how Xerox might have won the world if they hadn't missed the lightning striking again and again right under their noses.
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Summary: History Dump
Review: This is the second tech history book I have read which basically drones on and on. The other is the book on Licklider. Fantastically interesting and packed with information. That is both the pro and the con. After a while the data dump of names, places, and dates drones on and on. The tone remains invariable. It is like a history teach whose on switch is broken and wont shut up. If you are into tech history, you will really enjoy this. If you are not, this will likely send you screaming from your car during rush hour while listening to the tapes.
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Summary: The Minds That Forged Ahead A New Age
Review: Valeri Paul
Jan. 23, 2002
Amazon summary for T. Cannings ED 762 Assignment on Futures Book
Dealer's of Lightning: XEROX PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age by Michael A. Hiltzik The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) began with an idea from some great minds and funding from XEROX. Michael A. Hiltzik takes a historical view of the personal computer and the behind the scenes look as though the reader were in the hallway.
1973, a small group assembled in Charles Thacker's office in XEROX Corporation, to plant the seed for the modern computer. The members of the group were scientists and engineers paid slightly over the going rate and enthusiastically eager to be pioneers. Chuck Thacker was referred to as engineer's engineer, because his designs were simple and spare, devoid of the egotism that often spoiled the work of even the best of his fellow professionals. In a matter of months the group Thacker lead created an self-contained interactive with instant feedback, the Alto. He did not consider it a machine of the time, but a machine of the future. He had a history with Bob Taylor and helped get him hire in 1970 the year the PARC open. P. 82 Alan Kay and Bob Taylor shared a vision. They wanted to see what this (computer) machine would do. They were interested in finding out what this machine could do, more than how. When Kay was asked by those he recruited to Computer Science Lab (CSL), "What was the next stop on the road?"
Kay response was "Let's figure out where we want to go and that will show us how to get there." He never lost sight of the computer's appropriate station in the world: to conform to the user's desires, not the other way around. As the reader journey's with this group of intelligent driven minds, she become captivated at their values and perseverance through troubles and successes. Hiltzik balances the story with history and personality traits that intrigue me.
P. 83 Kay showed how to get through environment. "People get trapped into thinking that anything in the environment is to be taken as a given." "It's part of the way our nervous system works. But, he cautions, that it is dangerous because it controls you, instead of the other way around." Reinforcing the vision of Kay, simplify human endeavor.
It is a simple message that could have been easily distracted with the obstacles and interruptions that occurred from 1970 to 1980 (approximately). They continually put stake in their value to see this vision come to fruition. The reader know the history as she writes this summary. But what captures my attention, is the growth of community, the leadership Bob Taylor provided, and what these great minds eventually did with the computer to leave an mark in history. They changed lives and knew they were doing just that. There were obstacles in this great history making event and yet they were overcome. The obstacles included enlarged egos, lost and regained visions, intrusions from outsiders who did not share the vision and lost of funding. Bob Taylor style of management was a contributing factor to how PARC was run. He was tough manager described as militaristic, yet revealed himself a great leader. How he hired the best and did not get intimated by their intelligence. He eventually is asked to resign his post, but not without leaving a mark. Hiltzik treats Steve Jobs influence and leadership as threat to the PARC work. He describes him as a pushy visionary who did his homework to carve out a niche in the personal computer market. He infers that PARC vision was somewhat lost along the way, by the arrogance of the engineers there. After Steve Jobs saw the Alto's dynamic display her rushed back to begin push his people toward implementing that into the Macintosh interface. Then after heat disagreements within Apple the mouse eventually launched as part of the computer, which up until then was considered an entirely optional feature.
If you believe in the power of humans and technology to advanced performance and enhanced the sharing of information, read this book. History lovers with remember and gain a keen insight into what really went into this everyday device, the personal computer. Biography lovers will be inspired by the shift of against great odds to change the lives of all humans.
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