R.I.P. Charles P. Thacker - Designer of Xerox Alto
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Sadly, Charles P. Thacker passed away on June 12. Hardware designer for the Alto, the first computer designed from the ground up to support a GUI, introducing the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Mouse and Pointers), Wysiwyg, and many other paradigms. ACM Turing Award Winner - for this, and contributions to the Ethernet and Tablet computing. Too many people are described as pioneers of computing who were imitators (Steve Jobs - I'm looking at you). This one was the real thing.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.
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Sadly, Charles P. Thacker passed away on June 12. Hardware designer for the Alto, the first computer designed from the ground up to support a GUI, introducing the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Mouse and Pointers), Wysiwyg, and many other paradigms. ACM Turing Award Winner - for this, and contributions to the Ethernet and Tablet computing. Too many people are described as pioneers of computing who were imitators (Steve Jobs - I'm looking at you). This one was the real thing.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.
I remember the review of the Xerox Alto in the Sep '81 Byte. It "only" cost US $32,000! :omg: [The Xerox Alto Computer](http://tech-insider.org/personal-computers/research/acrobat/8109-e.pdf)
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill
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Sadly, Charles P. Thacker passed away on June 12. Hardware designer for the Alto, the first computer designed from the ground up to support a GUI, introducing the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Mouse and Pointers), Wysiwyg, and many other paradigms. ACM Turing Award Winner - for this, and contributions to the Ethernet and Tablet computing. Too many people are described as pioneers of computing who were imitators (Steve Jobs - I'm looking at you). This one was the real thing.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.
We could use a few more innovators like him. :sigh: Marc
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I remember the review of the Xerox Alto in the Sep '81 Byte. It "only" cost US $32,000! :omg: [The Xerox Alto Computer](http://tech-insider.org/personal-computers/research/acrobat/8109-e.pdf)
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill
That's around the time I started reading Byte too - also remember the classic Smalltalk issue:- Byte Magazine Volume 06 Number 08 - Smalltalk : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive[^]
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.
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I remember the review of the Xerox Alto in the Sep '81 Byte. It "only" cost US $32,000! :omg: [The Xerox Alto Computer](http://tech-insider.org/personal-computers/research/acrobat/8109-e.pdf)
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill
Unless I'm much mistaken, Photo 8 looks like it may even be the first Multiplayer First Person game too. That's one innovation I'd not heard of before.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.