Alan Kay recently loaned his 1970’s Xerox Alto to Y Combinator and I’m helping with the restoration of this legendary system. The Alto was the first computer designed around a graphical user interface and introduced Ethernet and the laser printer to the world. The Alto also was one of the first object-oriented systems, supporting the Mesa and Smalltalk languages. The Alto was truly revolutionary when it came out in 1973, designed by computer pioneer Chuck Thacker.
This is just great. All-around great. No possible way to snark, be cynical, blame it on Android updates or iOS walled gardens – just plain old great. Be sure to watch the introductory video, and definitely don’t forget part one of the restoration, with more sure to follow.
Goosebumps the entire time. I would give a lot to be in that room.
If I were in that room I hope I wouldn’t be to _too_ much of a hurry!
Kudos to those guys for being methodical and thorough.
I’ll enjoy seeing it running.
Is one of my favorite themes…
Killing History is one of the Strongest Tools of Tyranny.
Causing trouble to devices since the beginning of the electronics revolution. Did you hear me, you are nasty guys !
From the article:
Amazingly, Alan Kay even predicted ad blockers in his 1972 Dynabook paper: “One can imagine one of the first programs an owner will write is a filter to eliminate advertising!”
Great!
They already had flat design.