What is the importance of the Xerox Alto computer that was built in 1973?
Daniel Santos
Updated on January 06, 2026
The Xerox Alto is the first computer designed from its inception to support an operating system based on a graphical user interface (GUI), later using the desktop metaphor. The first machines were introduced on 1 March 1973, a decade before mass-market GUI machines became available.
Which Xerox division was responsible for creating the Alto personal computer?
creation by Xerox PARC …the project that developed the Alto, the first personal computer, in 1973. Alto used a bitmap display in which everything on the computer screen was, in effect, a picture and had a graphical user interface in which programs were shown in windows that could be manipulated by using a mouse.…
Who created the Xerox Alto?
Xerox
Texas Instruments
Xerox Alto/Manufacturers
What famous LAN technology was developed in the early 1970’s at Xerox PARC?
By the late 70s, PARC invented linguistic technologies for spell-checking and created one of the first networked multiplayer games, Alto Trek.
Why did Xerox build Parc?
Xerox PARC, in full Xerox Corporation Palo Alto Research Center, division established in 1970 by Xerox Corporation in Palo Alto, California, U.S., to explore new information technologies that were not necessarily related to the company’s core photocopier business.
Did Microsoft really steal from Apple?
As a result, on March 17, 1988 — the date we’re commemorating today — Apple sued Microsoft for stealing its work. Unfortunately, things didn’t go well for Apple. Judge William Schwarzer ruled that the existing license between Apple and Microsoft covered certain interface elements for the new Windows.
What did Xerox Palo Alto Research Center invent?
In many cases over the last 40 years, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (today PARC) has been that hidden player, inventing many of today’s ubiquitous technologies or refining them from abstract concepts.
Why did Haloid change its name to Xerox?
Looking for a term to differentiate its new system, Haloid coined the term Xerography from two Greek roots meaning “dry writing”. Haloid subsequently changed its name to Haloid Xerox in 1958 and then Xerox Corporation in 1961. Xerox had several manufacturing plants all over the world.
When did the Xerox Alto first come out?
The Alto was greatly refined and commercialized in 1981 when Xerox shipped its first office workstation, known as the Xerox Star or the Xerox 8010 Information System. Intended to realize Xerox’s “office of the future” vision, it was marketed as part of a complete “personal office system” that included other workstations and file/print servers.
What kind of Technology did Xerox PARC use?
Laser printing grew into a multibillion-dollar business for Xerox, easily funding all of its other projects. Many of the above technologies were present in PARC’s experimental Alto computer, but that system wasn’t meant for prime time and was used mostly internally through the 70s.