MovieChat Forums > Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) Discussion > Well Xerox were a bunch of dummies.

Well Xerox were a bunch of dummies.

posted 9 years ago by MuggySphere
7 replies | jump to latest

Didn't they think at all to get a patent on that hardware that they created or some kind of copyright so it can't be stolen even in part?

That was rather short sighted.

[–] debunkerboy 9 years ago

Though they don't mention this in the movie I'm pretty sure they gave it to Apple in exchange for something, Apple stock maybe? Probably not a decision the Xerox engineers were too happy about. So, I don't think the Apple raiding party actually stole it, though in a sense they did I guess. The top people probably didn't quite know what they had or they would have demanded more of a stake. Thing is Xerox wanted to make their own machines with the GUI and they actually did, before Apple got theirs out, but it was clunky and expensive and never took off. Coming up with prototypes that kind of worked in a lab with unlimited budgets and coming up with practical consumer machines are two very different things. Xerox was good at the former and Apple was good at the later and thanks to their combined contributions the GUI made it out of the lab and took over the world. Apple also greatly refined the GUI, making it even easier for people to use intuitively.

[–] MuggySphere 9 years ago

I often wonder how history would have played out had Xerox been a bit more shrewd about things.

[–] JohnG6 9 years ago

A book I recently read called "Fire in the Valley" stated that Xerox gave Jobs and Apple engineers a "look but don't touch" tour of the PARC facility in exchange for a chance to invest $1 million in Apple stock. It said that there were a lot of projects going on at the facility, but Xerox executives had little interest in developments that didn't apply to their core copier business. I have no idea how accurate this is, that's just what the book said.

[–] MuggySphere 9 years ago

I've read similar things. It's an interesting period in history.

[–] nights_dream_paradox 9 years ago

This movie is based on Fire in the Valley.

[–] transmentalist 8 years ago

Didn't they think at all to get a patent on that hardware that they created or some kind of copyright so it can't be stolen even in part?

That was rather short sighted.

The reality is, big corporations often wind up run by career executives whose primary focus is the company's core business and securing as much profit for the company (and themselves) as possible.

They are not visionaries; the ones who think they are tend to get themselves and their companies into trouble.

So silly as it sounds, it's a good move to sell off tech that the company isn't in a position to exploit. Bird in the hand vs. two in the bush, basically.

[–] MuggySphere 8 years ago

I also got the impression Jobs or someone boned that chick from Xerox