From:  Dean Swan at MITEL on 04/24/2000 03:05 PM

> See http://www.paulallen.com/press/releases/releaseLink.asp?recNo=846
>for the official press release.

     http://www.interval.com  also produces the official press release.

>And don't forget the little matter of the laser printer. That made it out
>of PARC and has made Xerox (and others) hundreds of timeswhat PARC costs.

     Yes, it did, but only because certain managers at Xerox ignored at least 3
separate executive orders to kill it, and it had a big push from very high
levels to even get it into the product development pipeline.



     Even if nothing else ever came out of PARC, I think the laser printer more
than justifies PARC's existence.  The book I read also made it pretty clear that
unless the invention had an associated "per page" fee, the Xerox salesforce had
no interest, since their whole compensation package was based on this.



     Interestingly, I grew up in a suburb of Rochester, NY, where many of my
friends' parents worked at Xerox's Webster lab, and many of my high school and
college friends work there now, including one of my college roommates.  Near as
I can tell, the only differnce between Xerox now and Xerox of 1968 is that now
laser printers *and* copiers are "real products", as opposed to just copiers.
Anything else is still just useless fodder.



     Interval's big weakness seemed to be in terms of sustainability.  I think
Paul Allen made it pretty clear from the outset that he was going to dump $100
million into it and that was all.



                                         -Dean Swan

                                         dean_swan at mitel.com






Tim Rowledge <tim at sumeru.stanford.edu> on 04/24/2000 02:14:13 PM

Please respond to tim at sumeru.stanford.edu

To:   Dean Swan/Ogd/Mitel at Mitel
cc:   squeak at cs.uiuc.edu

Subject:  Re: Interval Research (was Re: Bug auctions)



 See http://www.paulallen.com/press/releases/releaseLink.asp?recNo=846
for the official press release.
>  Sound
> like Paul Allen got his wish - he created another PARC, repelete with all the
> problems that PARC had (i.e. great research and researchers, with nearly
> complete inability to transfer the technology into profitable products),
except,
> of course, PARC is still there, and Interval is gone.
And don't forgetthelittle matter of the laser printer. THat made it out
of PARC and has made Xerox (and others) hundreds of timeswhat PARC costs.
>
>      BTW, if you hear anything about where Malcolm Slaney and Michelle Covell
> (aka Mrs. Slaney) end up, I'd be interested to know.  I don't know either of
> them personally, but I've been a big fan of their work.
Don't know where they'll go, except to guess that either of them can
probably have a professorship anywhere they fancy at the drop of a hat.


Me, I'm hoping to find out where the firesale is so I can pick up some
of those unwanted toys cheap :-)

tim