From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.3 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RDNS_NONE, T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 28603 invoked from network); 8 Jul 2023 07:45:59 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO minnie.tuhs.org) (2600:3c01:e000:146::1) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 8 Jul 2023 07:45:59 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C041E429F6; Sat, 8 Jul 2023 17:45:55 +1000 (AEST) Received: from lists.tip.net.au (pasta.tip.net.au [203.10.76.2]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 9F6F8429F5 for ; Sat, 8 Jul 2023 17:45:43 +1000 (AEST) Received: from [192.168.1.5] (ppp118-208-161-109.cbr-trn-nor-bras39.tpg.internode.on.net [118.208.161.109]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mailhost.tip.net.au (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 4Qyj452J5Vz9Qpt; Sat, 8 Jul 2023 17:45:40 +1000 (AEST) From: steve jenkin Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 12.4 \(3445.104.21\)) Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2023 17:45:36 +1000 Message-Id: <5E4113AB-AAF8-42D1-9A75-DF6BF659251A@canb.auug.org.au> To: COFF X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3445.104.21) Message-ID-Hash: 2L4ZEZGWEFBJZ5GZMQ4MHGBUHCTE4J3K X-Message-ID-Hash: 2L4ZEZGWEFBJZ5GZMQ4MHGBUHCTE4J3K X-MailFrom: sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [COFF] Butler Lampson's 1973 Xerox PARC memo "Why Alto?" List-Id: Computer Old Farts Forum Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: What struck me reading this is the estimated price (~$10K) to build an = Alto, elsewhere I=E2=80=99ve seen $12K and 80 built in the first run. [ a note elsewhere says $4,000 on 128KB of RAM. 4k-bit or 16-kbit = chips? unsure ] I believe the first "PDP-11=E2=80=9D bought by 127 at Bell Labs was = ~$65k fully configured (Doug M could confirm or not), although the disk = drive took some time to come. Later, that model was called PDP-11/20. Why the price difference? PARC was doing DIY - it=E2=80=99s parts only, not a commercial = production run with wages, space, tooling & R+D costs and = marketing/sales to be amortised, with a 80%+ Gross Margin required, as per DEC. Why didn=E2=80=99t Bell Labs build their own =E2=80=9CPersonal = Computer=E2=80=9D like PARC? They had the need, the vision, the knowledge & expertise. I=E2=80=99d suggest three reasons: - The Consent Decree. AT&T couldn=E2=80=99t get into the = Computer Market, only able to build computers for internal use. They didn=E2=80=99t need GUI PC=E2=80=99s to run = telephone exchanges. - Bell Labs management: they=E2=80=99d been burned by MULTICS and, rightly, = refused the CSRC a PDP-10 in 1969. - Nobody =E2=80=99needed=E2=80=99 to save money building another = DIY low-performance device. A home-grown supercomputer maybe :) It=E2=80=99s an accident of history that PARC could=E2=80=99ve, but = didn=E2=80=99t, port Unix to the Alto in 1974. By V7 in 1978, my guess it was too late because both sides had locked in = =E2=80=98commercial=E2=80=99 positions and for PARC to rewrite code = wasn=E2=80=99t justified: =E2=80=9CIf it ain=E2=80=99t Broke=E2=80=9D=E2=80= =A6=20 Porting Unix before 1974 was possible: PARC are sure to have had close contact with UC Berkeley and the = hardware/software groups there. Then 10 years later both Apple and Microsoft re-invent Graphical = computing using commodity VLSI cpu=E2=80=99s. Which was exactly the technology innovation path planned by Alan Kay in = 1970: build today what=E2=80=99ll be cheap hardware in 10 years and = figure out how to use it. Ironic that in 1994 there was the big Apple v Microsoft lawsuit over = GUI=E2=80=99s & who owned what I.P. Xerox woke up up midway through and filed their own infringement suit, = and lost. [ dismissed because approx they'd waited too long ] = =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D PDF: = Other formats: = =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D -- Steve Jenkin, IT Systems and Design=20 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 38, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA mailto:sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin