WK1 Reading - Xerox and PARC is the Motherlode!!

Is it reasonable to trace this history so far back in time (1728)?

I think tracing the history of VLE’s as far back as 1728 is important in as much as it demonstrates an intrinsic need for distance learning regardless of the technology at our fingertips.

Does the current era of computing seem to begin with the Xerox Parc project?

Yes!!...it certainly seems to be. Here’s why: Apple used the point and click, windows-type graphical user interface together with a mouse that Xerox scientists had developed for their own computers that were not commercially successful. Of course, other companies like Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard started designing computers with the same “look and feel”. Apple sued Microsoft and HP. That precipitated Xerox then suing Apple (Fisher, 1989).

The fact of the matter is that despite the litigation, the GUI that we now use today and have used to ignite the explosion that is modern personal computing is like the steering wheel in a car. Ford can’t sue Chevrolet for using a steering wheel too. However, history clearly shows that the Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Project started it all.

History repeats itself as well! Check out this video I abbreviated from my ETC class:




I first learned of this flexible, transparent display from reading a Maxim magazine while sitting on the tarmac at Bagram, Afghanistan in 2006. Right away, I knew that this is a revolutionary piece of technology. Years later, while blogging for Full Sail, lo and behold…I find PARC is behind it! Invented at PARC, The "Gyricon" is a thin layer of transparent plastic in which millions of small beads, similar to toner particles, are dispersed. The beads are contained in an oil-filled cavity and are free to rotate within those cavities. The beads are "bichromal,", which means that each hemisphere, when electrically charged, have two contrasting colors, like black and white, for example. When voltage is applied, the beads rotate to present one colored side to the viewer. This can create images such as text and pictures (PARC, 2010).

Wherever there is paper, wherever there is a display of any sort, any advertisement, newspaper, billboard, TV…ANYTHING will move to this technology just like personal computers moved to the mouse and GUI. It won’t be the only thing that will be developed, but it will most DEFINITELY be part of the wave.

References:

Fisher, L. M. (1989, December 15). COMPANY NEWS - Xerox Sues Apple Computer Over Macintosh Copyright. Retrieved July 11, 2010, from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/15/business/company-news-xerox-sues-apple-computer-over-macintosh-copyright.html

PARC. (2010). Xerox PARC: Gyricon. Retrieved July 11, 2010, from PARC: A Xerox Company : http://www2.parc.com/hsl/projects/gyricon/