Xerox asked us to invent the electronic office, even though no one knew what that meant. We did, and everyone\u2019s using it today. That makes it hard to remember what the world was like in 1972. Most people thought it was crazy to devote a whole computer to the needs of one person\u2014after all, machines are fast and people are slow. But that\u2019s true only if the person has to play on the machine\u2019s terms. If the machine has to make things comfortable for the person, it\u2019s the other way around. No machine, even today, can yet keep up with a person\u2019s speech and vision.<\/p>\n
What can we learn from the Alto about the future of computing? Well, in Alan\u2019s words, \u201cthe best way to predict the future is to invent it.\u201d I\u2019m constantly amazed at the number of people who think that there\u2019s not much more to do with computers. Actually, the computer revolution has only just begun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Xerox asked us to invent the electronic office, even though no one knew what that meant. We did, and everyone\u2019s using it today. That makes it hard to remember what the world was like in 1972. 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