Computing · 1973

Xerox Alto

The first computer built around a graphical desktop.

Xerox PARC's Alto combined a bitmapped display, mouse, windows and Ethernet networking. About 2,000 were built, and a 1979 visit by Steve Jobs brought its ideas to Apple.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

The Mother of All Demos 1968
Integrated circuit 1958

What it led to 1

Macintosh 1984

Watch

Xerox Parc - Office Alto CommercialComputer History Museum · YouTube

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Computation per constant dollar, 1850-2006 Latest: 7.3B million units of computer power per 2006 $ (2003) Source: Nordhaus 2007, Two Centuries of Productivity Growth in Computing, J. Econ. Hist. 67(1), Table 6