6 Oct
1998
6 Oct
'98
5:59 p.m.
At 01:30 PM 10/6/98 -0500, Doug wrote:
I'm not denying that Holt produced a CPU, and it
may be important in the
history of military computers. It is irrelevant in the history of the
personal computer unless there was a personal computer designed that
included it or a direct descendant.
So do you judge Xerox's impact on the "personal computer" as their Xerox
820 II or 8/16 machines or by the impact PARC had on user interface
metaphors? One of the more subtle things that this sort of blanket
statement misses is that places like the Silicon valley are filled with
folks going from job to job and bringing their knowledge (some of it
classified) with them. Xerox had a tremendous impact on Sun because a lot
of ex-Xeroids went to work there (look at a Dandelion box and a Sun 3/160
sometime :-)
The impact of Ray's design could be indirectly felt by people who worked
with him and went elsewhere.
--Chuck