Editing Xerox (section)

===Palo Alto Research Center===
{{main|Xerox PARC}}
{{stack|[[File:Xerox Alto.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The [[Xerox Alto]] workstation was developed at Xerox PARC.]]}}
In 1970, under company president [[Charles Peter McColough|C. Peter McColough]], Xerox opened the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, known as Xerox PARC. The facility developed many modern computing technologies such as the [[graphical user interface]] (GUI), [[Laser printer|laser printing]], [[WYSIWYG]] text editors, and [[Ethernet]]. From these inventions, Xerox PARC created the [[Xerox Alto]] in 1973, a small minicomputer similar to a modern [[workstation]] or [[personal computer]]. This machine can be considered the first true Personal Computer, given its versatile combination of a cathode-ray-type screen, mouse-type pointing device, and a QWERTY-type alphanumeric keyboard. But the Alto was never commercially sold, as Xerox itself could not see the sales potential of it. It was, however, installed in Xerox's own offices, worldwide and those of the US Government and military, who could see the potential. Within these sites the individual workstations were connected together by Xerox's own unique LAN, The Ethernet. Data was sent around this system of heavy, yellow, low loss coaxial cable using the packet data system. In addition, PARC also developed one of the earliest [[internetworking]] protocol suites, the [[PARC Universal Packet]] (PUP).{{fact|date=April 2024}}

In 1979, Steve Jobs made a deal with Xerox's venture capital division: He would let them invest US$1 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|1|1979|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}) in exchange for a look at the technology they were working on. Jobs and the others saw the commercial potential of the [[WIMP (computing)|WIMP]] (Window, Icon, Menu, and Pointing device) system and redirected development of the [[Apple Lisa]] to incorporate these technologies. Jobs is quoted as saying: "They just had no idea what they had."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crovitz |first1=L. Gordon |title=Gordon Crovitz: Who Really Invented the Internet? |journal=Wall Street Journal (Online) |date=2012 |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444464304577539063008406518.html?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink |access-date=10 February 2025}}</ref>

In 1980, Jobs invited several key PARC researchers to join his company so that they could fully develop and implement their ideas.{{fact|date=April 2024}}

[[Image:Xerox Star 8010 (2).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|The Xerox Star 8010]]
In 1981, Xerox released a system similar to the Alto, the [[Xerox Star]]. It was the first commercial system to incorporate technologies that have subsequently become commonplace in personal computers, such as a bitmapped display, window-based GUI, mouse, [[Ethernet]] networking, [[file server]]s, [[print server]]s, and [[e-mail]]. The Xerox Star and its successor the [[Xerox Daybreak]], despite their technological breakthroughs, did not sell well due to its high price, retailing at US$16,000 per unit ({{Inflation|US|16000|1981|fmt=eq|r=-3}}). A typical Xerox Star-based office, complete with network and printers, would have cost US$100,000 ({{Inflation|US|100000|1981|fmt=eq|r=-3}}).{{fact|date=April 2024}}

In the mid-1980s, [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] considered buying Xerox; however, a deal was never reached.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2018/01/14/apple-xerox-ibm-and-fumbling-the-future/ |title=Apple, Xerox, IBM And Fumbling The Future |last=Press |first=Gil |website=Forbes |language=en |access-date=2019-06-04 |archive-date=2019-06-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604063644/https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2018/01/14/apple-xerox-ibm-and-fumbling-the-future/ |url-status=live |date=2018-01-14 }}</ref>{{citation needed|date=May 2013}} Apple instead bought rights to the Alto GUI and adapted it into a more affordable personal computer, aimed towards the business and education markets. The [[Macintosh 128K|Apple Macintosh]] was released in 1984, and it was the first personal computer to popularize the GUI and mouse among the public.{{fact|date=April 2024}}

In 2002, PARC was spun off into an independent wholly-owned subsidiary of Xerox.<ref name="parcsri"/>

In April 2023, Xerox announced that it would donate the lab and its related assets to [[SRI International]]. As part of the deal, Xerox would keep most of the patent rights inside PARC, and benefit from a preferred research agreement with SRI/PARC.<ref name="parcsri">{{cite news |last=Savitz |first=Eric J. |date=2023-04-24 |title=Xerox Gives Legendary PARC Lab to SRI International |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/xerox-parc-lab-sri-international-e1d46fe |newspaper=[[Barron's (newspaper)|Barron's]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230425002458/https://www.barrons.com/amp/articles/xerox-parc-lab-sri-international-e1d46fe |archive-date=2023-04-25 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.news.xerox.com/news/xerox-announces-donation-of-palo-alto-research-center-parc-to-sri-international |title=Xerox Announces Donation of Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to SRI International |date=2023-08-09 |first=Justin |last=Capella |work=Xerox Corporate }}</ref>