Father of laser printer passes away.

[schmitt trigger]

Gary Starkweather's obituary:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/technology/gary-starkweather-dead.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_200116?campaign_id=2&instance_id=15127&segment_id=20368&user_id=10ca517e806ee8b2b6c2d219d309c7d0&regi_id=371077490116

I didn't know that this was also an invention of the Xerox corp. But what was also surprising, is the company's initial reaction was to reject the idea, although he later prevailed.
We all are also familiar with the other Xerox strategic blunder, involving Steve Jobs.

Small wonder that Xerox, although still around, is nowhere as ubiquitous as it once was.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

We all are also familiar with the other Xerox strategic blunder, involving Steve Jobs.

Blind and deaf they were, uninterested in PostScript too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Warnock

Unable to convince Xerox management of the approach to commercialize the InterPress graphics language for controlling printing, he, together with Geschke and Putman, left Xerox to start Adobe in 1982. At their new company, they developed an equivalent technology, PostScript, from scratch, and brought it to market for Apple's LaserWriter in 1985.

[SiliconWizard]

I think Xerox is still doing fine in the printing industry. But sure it's not what it once was... (but there's a lot more competition now as well of course, so that's not just due to strategic errors.)

I don't think it's surprising they rejected the idea first, large organizations are notoriously bad at innovating. They tend to favor milking the proven solutions and just iteratively improve them. There are thousands of examples of this in the history of industry. (I suggest reading "The innovator's dilemma".)

Oh, and, good job Gary. Rest in peace.

[schmitt trigger]

Another Rochester industrial neighbor, Kodak, made a similar mistake.

Although they had a very early start in digital imaging, Kodak's entrenched film business did not allow the product to develop (pun intended).

[vwestlife]

Actually, Kodak was one of the leading manufacturers of digital cameras in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Many of the early digital cameras were sold by companies firmly entrenched in print media: Kodak, HP, Ricoh, Epson, Kyocera, etc.

The major film camera companies like Canon, Olympus, Nikon, etc., waited until digital camera technology could finally rival film photography in terms of image quality, and then jumped in with huge marketing budgets and brand name reputation that the above companies just couldn't compete with.

The same thing happened a decade later when Kodak introduced the first pocket-sized video camera to record true 1080p HD video in 2008 (the Zi6 -- I owned one), and then a year later Flip jumped in with a huge marketing budget, and a year after that smartphones started adding HD video recording capability. Kodak was once again beat out of a market segment they pioneered.

[SpecialK]

PC Load Letter

[nctnico]

Actually, Kodak was one of the leading manufacturers of digital cameras in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Are you sure about that? I once bought a Kodak digital camera and it was complete crap. It could be they where the first but probably also the worst. Maybe on purpose in order not to eat into the film & paper departments but if so that was a serious mistake.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Actually, Kodak was one of the leading manufacturers of digital cameras in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Are you sure about that? I once bought a Kodak digital camera and it was complete crap.

#metoo

[schmitt trigger]

I actually worked for Kodak in the 1980s.

If I recall correctly, its overriding preoccupation is what was called the green menace: Fuji film. To a lesser degree Agfa.
Everything else was under the radar.

[Bud]

PC Load Letter

I know what it is ! 

[coppice]

Actually, Kodak was one of the leading manufacturers of digital cameras in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Are you sure about that? I once bought a Kodak digital camera and it was complete crap. It could be they where the first but probably also the worst. Maybe on purpose in order not to eat into the film & paper departments but if so that was a serious mistake.

Kodak were a early leading manufacturer of cameras in terms of volume, but I never saw anything very sophisticated from them. For a time they were a major producer of sensors for other camera makers.

[artag]

I remember Kodak in the 90s as trying to sell consumer rather than high quality cameras - as though they wanted their box brownie market back. After all, they had no media to sell to digitals and had only sold instamatics and similar - they probably didn't see the price crash in digitals coming and thought their market would never be able to afford them.

[Rick Law]

From what I recalled in business publications of the day, Kodak failed for very different reasons than Xerox.

Xerox knew how to innovate, but failed to convert their innovations into monetary gains.  Kodak on the other hand took their biggest fall because they mishandled a market.

Kodak did fine with their digital products, good enough to stay alive and potentially regain the initiative anyhow.  Where they lost their last big bundle of resources is when they took the wrong path with the Chinese market - time frame was just as digital camera took hold in the USA but film was still going reasonably well (so money was decreasing but still coming in).  Kodak saw that China was growing, and their standard of living was improving.  They assume the Chinese will increase their spending and take more photos.  So they begin putting resources and assets there to benefit from growth in the China market.  So far so good.

They put in resources alright, big big resources and huge assets - but they were expecting the Chinese market to grow along a path like developed markets such as the USA or Western Europe.  As consumers got more money, they will take more and more photos and buy more and more films.  Then, as the economy develops more, they have more money and they will switch to digital - eventually.  So, they build local capabilities (factories) to make films, make photo paper, make film cameras, make film processing chemicals, film processing logistics, etc ...  But, those Chinese didn't do as Kodak expected - they pretty much bypassed the whole film thing and leapfrogged directly digital cameras.  All those $ Kodak spend on film factories, etc., now gone kaput.  You can consider that was their Battle of the Bulge.  Germany (Kodak) scraping up all their final resources for one last throw of the dice to regain the whole show...  big gamble with big payout.  But...  something happened on the way to Antwerp... 

That is what I recalled reading (and concluded) from the business presses of the day.  I would give you citations if I remember what sources I got those from, but that far back I long since forgot.

[rdl]

This is a very good book if you are interested in learning more about that era of Xerox PARC.


http://michaelhiltzik.com/dealers-of-lightning/

[Homer J Simpson]

PC Load Letter

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

PC Load Letter

See? Another proof of inferior standards: DIN A4 is better than ANSI.

(me ducks and runs into the woods)

[andy3055]

Photo copies were initially known as Xerox copies!

[Tomorokoshi]

I watched the speech pointed to in the NYT article. Very interesting.

[VK3DRB]

Classic time in history which changed the world, when Steve Wozniak was employed at HP, from the movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley"...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wic7Ka652Fk&feature=youtu.be&t=60