ParcPlace Systems: how it played a crucial role in the evolution of the personal computer - Term Paper Example

Factors that mainly contributed to the creativity of the company included the financial contribution by Xerox, the pool of talent acquired from all over the country, the organizational pattern and the ability to lead the company to an unchartered territory ParcPlace Systems: How it played a crucial role in the evolution of PCs It was the nuclear magnetic romance that led George Pake into finding Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) when he was working with Chief Scientist, Jack Goldman at Xerox in 1970.

XeroxPARC was never the foundation of a sole management but a pool of talent that was invested in to create some of the most substantial inventions in technology. It was always the company in the business of breakthroughs. Being the incubator of modern computing, the company was responsible for introducing the most basic elements of the first personal computer. The usage model included peripherals like the mouse to technology of graphics (GUI), text editors and object oriented programming languages.

The innovations in the usage of personal computers were the result of the idea to communicate with computers that is enriched to meet the diverse need of individuals. Historically, people were not able to think about such things until they had grasped a more elemental notion that a computer could interact with a user in real time and give instant response. The evolution of PCs followed a similar path of a printed book but in fewer years (Allen, 1977). Experimental computers were built at XeroxPARC to study the interaction with adults and children.

Many researches were conducted in order to make the usage of PCs as friendly as possible. The basic researches led out the complex concepts to full generality. Smalltalk programming language was the result of such pattern and so were many other inventions. The Architecture of Information 1970-80: A team of world class researchers were gathered producing the world’s first laser printer and the first object oriented programming language Smalltalk. It was in these years also when the graphical user interface, the mouse, WYSIWYG text editor and Ethernet were put efforts into.

The inventions continued by venturing with other technology firms. This led to developing computer architectures of remote kind. Printing systems were enhanced and network architectures were completed (PARC History, 2002). 1980-90: This era started off with the storage device Optimem to access high speed information. More work was put into Smalltalk, and multi programming tools (Xerox 8010 Star IS). The innovations did not end there but continued with printing and copying technologies (Xerox 8700/1075).

The inventions in lasography, electronics and xerography were incorporated in data transfer, storage and printing devices. Moreover, spell checking, linguistics and data compression technologies took the company to new bounds. In the early 80’s the first ever optical cable LAN was designed which was later commercialized by the company’s spin offs. Ventures into artificial intelligence also took place by the development of Trillium and Pride expert systems. This developed a number of knowledge-based systems for Xerox.

This was again the era when Xerox and ParcPlace Systems were greatly recognized for their efforts. The engineers at Parc were greatly recognized and the parent company valued in billions. Face to face meetings became possible with Colab. Graphics software for artists and mobile devices created an environment for embedded computation. In mid 80’