Xerox and Kodak were both amazing companies, and created a comfortable middle or upper middle class lifestyle for many thousands of Rochesterians.
This scenario must have played out in multiple places. I was involved in one of them.
I was working at Tymshare, and we were evaluating the PDP-10 and the Xerox (XDS/SDS) Sigma 7.
My manager called me into his office.
---
Mike, this conversation is strictly between you and me. If anyone asks, I will deny it happened.
You are our best Sigma 7 expert, and even you prefer the PDP-10.
We're doing final acceptance tests on the Sigma 7. If all the tests pass, we have to commit to it. If enough tests fail, we can return that machine.
---
I got the hint. Challenge accepted!
Knowing all the ins and outs of the Sigma 7, I found a few subtle ways to make it crash at random times, without any indication that anyone had interfered with the tests.
Eventually I slipped up and left my username visible in a core dump.
Back to my manager's office.
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Mike, we have a problem. Xerox figured out that you were messing with the Sigma 7 system software. We told them we would fire you. So, you're fired. You can't be in the office any more.
But you do have your Teletype at home, right? You have some projects to do on the PDP-10. Can you work on those and stay away from the Sigma 7?
Keep track of your hours, and after this blows over we will hire you back and give you that back pay.
---
So I did. And they did!
From the Oral History of Synertek, they wanted to buy some buy some PDP-11 but they had been bought by Honeywell. Honeywell had told them they would not be controlled and have a free hand. Honeywell of course wouldn't not allow it and told them they would get a free Honeywell mainframe. And they got send a mainframe that was completely useless and didn't have any relevant software. So eventually Synertek collapsed and many of those people founded VSLI Technology.
At AT&T they bought a lot of PDP-11s, they were the biggest DEC costumer and they also moved 3B series computers because they wanted to be a computer company too. Cost them a lot of money.
I think the story of everybody wanted PDPs but cooperate didn't want.
https://dkriesel.com/en/blog/2013/0802_xerox-workcentres_are...
The tested scans did look kind of crappy, so if you care about non altered glyphs maybe don't do a lossy compression on a low resolution scan. So these issue can totally happen with any printer if your resolution is too low, the glyphs are ambigous and you use a too aggressive lossy compression. This also happens with other approaches like vectorization or OCR.
I already did, although some time ago. Kriesel also has some other interesting talks, e.g. about the German Railway company.
Like I totally think Xerox is at fault, but what they actually did wrong was using bad defaults (and lying when they got told). This can totally occur with any software. From looking at the pictures I think part of the issue was that the input resolution was lower than what the compression was tested with, not the compression part per se.
Also I think the customers are at least partially at fault for digitalizing, but not checking. Don't be stingy on important data. And who in there sane minds throws away the originals????? Like you can throw away copies all the way you like, but NEVER the original. (Except when you really want to "destroy" information.) To me that was the most ridiculous part, assuming software (being famous for bugs like no other tool) can never be wrong and throwing away physical things only relying on your random files to exist.
> I haven't watched the talk since I saw it
Funny statement, sounds like a tautology and still contains information.
so yeah, thanks Carl.
Or they might have destroyed them. I wonder how Lexmark is doing under their control.
[•] <https://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-Computer...>
In addition to all the technical detail, you learn so much about corporate hubris in their massive quest for non-innovation (resting on their laurels).
C-level staff ignored the brilliance of their Alto computer, invited Steve Jobs over in exchange for a few shares of AAPL IPO [which they almost-immediately sold], and left all their computer researchers scratching their heads as to why staff were being ignored.
And tons of other people knew what they were doing. Andy Bechtolsheim visited there too. Sun workstation basically did the same thing and were very successful.
And its really the PC that would have anyway if they let in Jobs or not.
santiagobasulto•1mo ago
One very interesting thing about Xerox was not only their technology but their choice of business model. As smaller companies couldn't afford an expensive copier, they'd "rent" it and charge per copy. From the article:
> The company placed machines in well-traveled public spaces where it was on display, and in addition to sales, they also offered machine rental for smaller organizations. This was a low price for up to 2000 copies, and each copy after was 4¢. They also promised that a machine could be returned within fifteen days. The 650 pound behemoth was wildly successful.
Another similar interesting business model was pioneered by Rolls-Royce in their airplane turbine business. Instead of selling their whole turbine, they'd "rent" it and charge it "per flight hour", derisking both parts.
ErigmolCt•1mo ago