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Download Dealers of Lightning: Xerox Parc and the Dawn of The DEALERS OF LIGHTNING: XEROX PARC AND THE DAWN OF THE COMPUTER AGE DOWNLOAD FREE BOOK Michael A Hiltzik | 480 pages | 05 Apr 2000 | HarperCollins Publishers Inc | 9780887309892 | English | New York, United States Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age What an amazingly well written book about a complex situation. For example, we use cookies to conduct research and diagnostics to improve our content, products and services, and to measure and analyse the performance of our services. The gorgeous visual displays we take for granted, the trackpad and the mouse that make it easy for the "man" to interact with the "machine", the Ethernet cables, radio waves and software protocols that make it easy for me to send those "I love you's" to people I care about in seconds across the globe, a globe with unforgiving entropy. Readers also enjoyed. Mar 10, Keri Solaris rated it it was ok Shelves: read-for-uni. About the Publisher. The two of them collaborated on what became one of the critical pieces of networking hardware. I even learned how my personal actions had consequences I never knew about. Home Contact us Help Free delivery worldwide. It created the industry I love and work in. Apr 14, Dealers of Lightning: Xerox Parc and the Dawn of the Computer Age Falkvidd rated it liked it. Those systems were usually secured away from programmers with no interactive provisions. I was particularly i "The best way to predict the future is to invent Dealers of Lightning: Xerox Parc and the Dawn of the Computer Age. It simply means that a certain quality once possessed by PARC in its extraordinary early years seems to have departed from the world of science and technology, perhaps forever. I was particularly impressed at how they created a microprocessor-based unlike the Alto portable computer with Smalltalk, bitmapped display, multiprocessing and networking - the Xerox NoteTaker - in Came here for the Dealers of Lightning: Xerox Parc and the Dawn of the Computer Age and was bored by all the social aspects. Bob Taylor noted that time-sharing computers created computing communities but kept them isolated due to the design differences between their machines. After all, this generation has always been blessed with a computer in each of their hands with all its modern-day graphics and interactive features. Taylor's focus on developing a personal computer the Alto led to one of PARC's biggest breakthroughs. The decision was made at Xerox headquarters to give the team complete freedom from deadlines and directives, in hopes of fostering a true creative environment. Close X. Community Reviews. This is a story of their battles, their politics, the uphill engineering struggles they faced, their inner demons but above all, the story of the triumph of what unyielding human curiosity, chutzpah and soul gutting hard work can accomplish. The object lesson I take from PARC is this: beware of any company that aims to start an "innovation lab", either implicitly or explicitly, because not only will that send the signal that innovation only belongs to that business unit thus not making the company innovative overallthe lab will always be in a tug-of-war with the bean-counters who didn't understand innovation in the first place! We use cookies to improve this site Cookies are used to provide, analyse and improve our services; provide chat tools; and show you relevant content on advertising. More filters. About Michael A. Rating details. However, one of these inventions, the laser printer, proved successful enough to earn billions for the company, therefore justifying its investment in the research center. I atleast hope "Computing is pop culture. Relatedly, I can feel some sympathy for the executives at Xerox. Essential We use cookies to provide our servicesfor example, to keep track of items stored in your shopping basket, prevent fraudulent activity, improve the security of our services, keep track of your specific preferences e. While it may sound as though this book is written exclusively for those with an interest in or knowledge of computers, that is not the case. Cancel Save settings. Why not 5 stars? Goodreads is hiring! In contrast to that, Hiltzik offers little info on the products themselves and, as a result, I didn't come out any wiser about them than I was when I started r I started reading this with very high expectations. Accept all Manage Cookies. Feb 18, Doug rated it really liked it. I swear to never forget this. Books by Michael A. That work was important and groundbreaking in some ways, but I think the book overplays some developments by giving the illusion that similar or related work was not being done by other people and institutions. It's also emblematic of the inability of large corporations to recognise and foster innovation. Dealers of Lightning : Xerox Parc and the Dawn of the Computer Age The book is also a well-paced narrative with strong character development. I do not have a technical or academic research background and found the technical very accessible. As he put it in his pithy masterpiece, The Mythical Man-Month: 'The second system is the "The theory of second systems was formulated by an IBM executive named Frederick Brooks, Dealers of Lightning: Xerox Parc and the Dawn of the Computer Age career supervising large-scale software teams taught him that designers of computer systems tend to build into their second projects all the pet features that tight finances or short deadlines forced them to leave out of their first. About the Publisher. Highly recommend. Michael A. It presupposes that a corporation should invariably be able to recoup its investment in all its basic research -- a mindset bound to lead not to more effective corporate-funded basic research but simply to less of it. From the silicon transistors that can amplify and switch electronic signals, to the IC's embedding billions of those transistors to the micro-processors built on top of these transistors, to the operating system talking to those micro processors which in turn is given instructions by compilers which take the pithy "code" we "programmers" write and convert it to Dealers of Lightning: Xerox Parc and the Dawn of the Computer Age form those operating systems can Dealers of Lightning: Xerox Parc and the Dawn of the Computer Age, it's all human magic. The "programming languages" that help a million middle class households in my country pay their bills and educate their children, all of this and more was either made possible or improved upon by a bunch of renegades at XEROX PARC. The standard narrative is that their Palo Alto Research Centre PARC developed all of the big ideas of modern desktop computing mouse, ethernet connection, desktop GUI, laser printing under their noses, but the myopic suits failed to develop and fund it. It made me want to learn about the creators of this technology. The myth is that xerox parc invented most modern software but when you read this book your like "DAMN they really did invent everything. And they did it without fanfare or recognition from their employer. So I enjoyed the book very much. In the s and '80s, Xerox Corporation brought together a brain-trust of engineering geniuses, a group of computer eccentrics dubbed PARC. Instead, others came in including, famously and literally, Jobs himself and took the ideas forward. Although it was never successfully brought to market, it heavily influenced personal computing. However, one of these inventions, the laser printer, proved successful enough to earn billions for the company, therefore justifying its investment in the research center. While ultimately Xerox corporation could not make use of these great inventions, I was left wondering if the Xerox PARC group were partly to blame due to lack of focus on productization. It was the first 3-D computer graphics chip which was the foundation of Silicon Graphics Inc. Oct 16, Richard Rossi rated it really liked it. Sometimes particular catalysts bring about change in important ways that are more gracefully and before their expected time, but many ideas and changes will eventually arise one way or the other. I'm just not that interested in people's personal stories. Goodreads is hiring! Oct 08, Aarsh Shah rated it really liked it Shelves: tech. Paperbackpages. Hiltzik's Dealers of Lightning provides a fascinating look at technohistory that sets the record straight. Interesting reading as part of the computer history. Though the book hit a little too close to home; the toxic politics inside PARC reminded me of a lot of the otherwise-great jobs I've had! Mentions hundreds of names you Dealers of Lightning: Xerox Parc and the Dawn of the Computer Age not remember a minute later and ignores all but simplest technical issues. That being said, I am still recommending this book to all my geeky computer science or rnd friends. Jul 29, b bb bbbb bbbbbbbb rated it it was ok Shelves: non-fictionstarshistoricalcomputers. In contrast to that, Hiltzik offers little info on the products themselves and, as a result, I didn't come out any wiser about them than I was when I started reading it. This book gives all the context and details that are missing in that premise, and its is not as simple as the old known story that it was the lack of vision at the top management that blew Xerox's chance to become the biggest company in the personal computing era. Read this if you ever feel nihilistic about the world, work or your life in general.
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