Charles ‘Chuck’ Thacker, lead designer of the Xerox Alto (below), has died at the age of 74, reports Communications. The Alto, launched in 1973, was the first ever computer based on a graphical user interface and controlled by a mouse, and was one of the inspirations behind Apple’s Lisa and Macintosh computers …
Thacker said in 2010 that the falling price of RAM was key to enabling them to build a GUI-based computer.
The popular mythology is that Steve Jobs saw the Alto during a visit to the Xerox PARC research facility and stole the idea for Apple’s own computers. As Stanford University points out, this isn’t the case – Steve’s visit took place after work was already underway on both the Lisa and Macintosh – but it’s undeniable that the Alto played a pivotal role.
Apple engineer Jef Raskin also used Steve’s visit to PARC to demonstrate the value of the GUI approach.
So the Alto definitely informed the work of the Apple team, and also helped enthuse Steve Jobs.
Thacker is also credited as the co-inventor of Ethernet and contributing to the development of the world’s first laserprinter.
Via ArsTechnica
Check out our videos on our YouTube channel
