Dealers of Lightning

During the 1970s and 1980s, a number of brilliant computer eccentrics were thrown together by Xerox at the Xerox PARC centre in Palo Alto, California. This book offers a glimpse of business and technology. It is a story of missed opportunities, but also one that marks the dawn of the computer age.

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During the 1970s and 1980s, a number of brilliant computer eccentrics were thrown together by Xerox at the Xerox PARC centre in Palo Alto, California. These people created inventions such as the first personal computer, the graphic user interface, the mouse and one of the precursors of the Internet. However, the bosses at Xerox never really appreciated these men or their innovations, and accused them of just fooling around. Then along came the outsiders, such as Steve Jobs of Apple Computing, who left the PARC with ideas that they would later exploit and make vast fortunes on, propelling them to the cutting edge of technology. This book offers a glimpse of business and technology. It is a story of missed opportunities, but also one that marks the dawn of the computer age.