Xerox farewells famous PARC

One of the most famous locations in technology, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), is to be handed to research institution SRI International.

Xerox PARC is famous for its foundational contributions to key aspects of modern computing: the combination of graphical user interface (GUI) and mouse showcased in its Alto computer; object-oriented programming; the laser printer; and less-visible innovations such as very large scale integrated circuits.

PARC was also famously the location of a Steve Jobs visit which gave rise to the myth that Jobs first learned of technologies like the mouse, the GUI, and bitmapped graphics, which he incorporated into the Lisa before Xerox was able to monetise them (this history at Stanford University sets the record straight).

Xerox turned PARC into a wholly-owned subsidiary in 2002.

Announcing the donation, Xerox said it will continue to contract research projects to PARC under a “preferred research agreement” to be called the “technology exploration and innovation program.”

SRI International was founded in the 1940s by the trustees of Stanford University, and became independent of the university in 1976, to focus on client research. 

Its work included a spin-out called Siri, acquired by Apple; other innovations include contributions to Arpanet, later to become the Internet.

The institute said the PARC donation “brings together two iconic Silicon Valley organisations and will enable SRI to further build, expand, and scale its capabilities among a diverse set of technology and scientific areas”.