Comments on: How Xerox invented the GUI and lost it https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-xerox-invented-the-gui-and-lost-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-xerox-invented-the-gui-and-lost-it David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more Sun, 03 May 2026 14:40:32 +0000 hourly 1 By: Xavier Talfumiere https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-xerox-invented-the-gui-and-lost-it/#comment-57655 Sun, 03 May 2026 14:40:32 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=40524#comment-57655 I can add some color. I used to work for a company which was purchased by Xerox in 2010 – when they decided they wanted to be like IBM and HP and pivot to business process outsourcing services. First, they were seeing themselves as innovators, as inventors. And even 10 years ago, they were one or the two largest patent applicants in the US. And Second, the standard way of presenting things in the company was that they had played their hand cleverly. Because laser printing was the real gem for them, a way to extend their presence and their virtual monopoly in office printing. The GUI was just a way to accelerate adoption of desktop publishing, and Xerox was better off letting other companies develop the office of the future, as long as they secured their position as the leading provider of laser printers.

]]> By: Luyd Freitas https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-xerox-invented-the-gui-and-lost-it/#comment-57648 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:56:32 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=40524#comment-57648 Apple, as always, “copied” and even significantly improved the concept. Another miracle was managing to reduce the system size to run on a 128KB computer in just one year, considering the monstrous Lisa had an astonishing 1MB and was entirely designed for a graphical interface.

It’s a shame Microsoft took so long to realize this. The first version of Windows looked like a poorly made copy of the Macintosh. Version 2.0 improved, but it wasn’t until version 3.0 that they got it right, with reservations. It took more than 10 years to finally get it right with Windows 95 – quite a delay, unfortunately.

I recently had the opportunity to use a 128KB Macintosh, and I was fascinated that it existed in 1984. In a matter of time, it left the Commodore 64 and the first PCs behind it.

]]> By: Jan van den Berg https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-xerox-invented-the-gui-and-lost-it/#comment-57644 Tue, 28 Apr 2026 09:10:29 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=40524#comment-57644 I love these historical deepdives that create more contex and nuance.

]]> By: Paolo Amoroso https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-xerox-invented-the-gui-and-lost-it/#comment-57640 Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:58:08 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=40524#comment-57640 The mouse was not invented at Xerox, see the work by Douglas Engelbart’s group at SRI.

]]> By: JD Mathewson https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-xerox-invented-the-gui-and-lost-it/#comment-57639 Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:40:23 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=40524#comment-57639 They also did very well licensing their laser printing patents.

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