Alan Kay

I couldn’t read the article so…

Kay said: “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.”

Kay really didn’t do either on his own, he was the leader of a team. Despite the fact that I’m a former Xerox employee and used an Alto on a daily basis for years, Xerox never made any kind of personal computer product that was successful outside of Xerox. Kay is obviously a smart guy but he hasn’t really done anything of note since his Xerox days, just sort of a technical celebrity at companies like Atari, Apple, Disney and HP.

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Conversation 2 comments

  • Simard57

    28 November, 2017 - 8:47 am

    <p>His career "summit" was much higher than mine. </p><p><br></p><p>The Xerox team may not have succeeded in creating a business but they surely did produce aspirational solutions (as did MIT) influencing future generations (measured in people years, not computer years) of computing. If you contributed to that visionary work, I envy you.</p><p><br></p>

    • skane2600

      28 November, 2017 - 12:11 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#221949"><em>In reply to Simard57:</em></a></blockquote><p>I agree with you. I can't take any credit for the visionary work, however. My contributions were worthwhile but more mundane. </p>

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