Final Xerox Star demo

Xerox PARC is giving one final demonstration of the original Xerox Star workstation built in 1981. This may be the last time it gets demoed, as the hardware has begun failing due to its age. Don't miss this opportunity to witness one of the most important steps ever taken in the history of computing and user interface design. Final Demo of the Xerox Star Workstation 5:30 to 7:00pm Wednesday June 17th Auditorium Xerox PARC Unquestionably, one of the major design innovations of this century has been the Graphical User Interface, with its desktop, icons, pop-up and pull-down menus and ubiquitous windows. The explosion of computer usage in the last decade has in large part been made possible through this simpler and more direct method of user interaction. Though millions of people around the world are now using GUIs, few outside of the Human/Computer Interaction field or the Silicon Valley are aware of the history of the its design prior to the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. The first GUI ever developed was the work of Dr. Douglas Englebart, a researcher at SRI (the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA) in the mid-1960s. His visionary and pioneering design and prototypes succeeded in producing the world's first screen-based windows, cursor-selectable pop-up menus, as well as the mouse with which to interact with them. Though these innovations were truly revolutionary, it was not until a decade later when researchers at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) began systematically studying this system in a commericial development effort. The Xerox Alto personal computer workstation was developed in the late 70's and included a mouse pointing system. This system influenced later systems such as Bravo, which was developed at Xerox PARC by Bruce Lampson and included an integrated editor formatter. Later systems included Markup, Draw, and Star. Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) has been a cradle of Silicon Valley innovation for 25 years. Its research spans domains from atoms to anthropology, from its solid-state physics lab, which develops new laser diodes for use in printers and copiers, to the group that studies work practices and their possible impact on current and future products. Located in the Stanford University Industrial Park in the heart of Silicon Valley, PARC was charged upon its founding in 1970 to the "architect of the information age". Since then it has delivered into use such significant pieces of the current information infrastructure as laser printers, graphical user interfaces, object-oriented programming languages, and Ethernet local area networks. PARC has contributed to user interfaces, electronic components, embedded software and architectures for each new line of Xerox copiers, printers, and systems reprographics products. Directions to Xerox PARC El Camino Real. Oregon Expressway becomes Page Mill Road at El Camino. Follow Page Mill Road 1.7 miles to Coyote Hill Road (no light) and turn left. Coyote Hill Road is just past the intersection with Foothill Expressway. Go one-half mile and PARC will be on your left. Follow the signs to the auditorium. to Coyote Hill Road (no light) and turn right. Go one-half mile and PARC will be on your left. Follow the signs to the auditorium.