Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
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From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Subject: Re: The Early History of Smalltalk
Message-ID: <tcmayD27uvs.1t2@netcom.com>
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Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 01:02:16 GMT
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Jeff Sutherland (jsutherland@BIX.com) wrote:

: 1. Smalltalk
: 2. The mouse
: 3. The GUI
: 4. The PC
: 5. Ethernet
: 6. The laser printer

: Sigh.  He didn't leave anything left for the rest of us.

I would give Doug Engelbart primary credit for the mouse, as he was
demonstrating a mouse-drive, GUI-based environment circa 1967 (plus or
minus a year). Did he invent the GUI? Arguably, yes. I would give much
of that credit to Ivan Sutherland ("Sketchpad") as well, though Kay
deserves a lot of credit, too.

(And others in the group at PARC did a lot.)

The PC is definitely not a PARC invention, as many groups had similar
efforts in the early 70s. The IBM 5100 APL machine was arguably a PC,
as were various portable programmable calculators (I used an
Olivetti--I think it was--in high school in 1969, for example; it was
slow, but programmable, and portable, and certainly "personal").

Ethernet I think was due to the guy who later formed 3Com (his name
escapes me at the moment). The "Dover" laser printer was presumably
done by electromechanical guys. I have no idea what Kay's involvement
was...maybe it was central.

I'm not trying to take anything away from Alan Kay, I just don't think
it can be said that he "invented" all of these things.

--Tim May

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