The History of Xerox

> the computer they wanted was DEC PDP-10. At this point, Paul Strassman was replacing every IBM and DEC machine at Xerox with an SDS machine.

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.

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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.

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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.

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So I did. And they did!

Whenever I read about Xerox, it reminds me of the story that their scanners would randomly change numbers on prints

https://dkriesel.com/en/blog/2013/0802_xerox-workcentres_are...

Very interesting story and well written so far, I'll finish it after work.

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.

My father worked for Haloid for a bit. Worked there while also attending NYU. Layer he moved to Kodak and in 1967 our family moved to Rochester. My father retired from Kodak in 1985.

Xerox and Kodak were both amazing companies, and created a comfortable middle or upper middle class lifestyle for many thousands of Rochesterians.

How hard it is for an organization to be good at both discovery and exploitation at the same time

Solid read! I started my career of at a former Xerox R&D that was acquired by NAVER Labs, which is an interesting story in itself of passing of time and the new (AI R&D) replacing the old (print technology): https://www.news.xerox.com/news/NAVER-to-acquire-Xerox-Resea...

If you want to see what a dismal company Xerox is check its share price over the last fifty years. Even accounting for stock splits and dividends the performance is dire for a technology company.

Another decent read on this subject is 'Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age' by Michael A. Hiltzik

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