Editing Xerox Alto (section)

==History==
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[[File:Xerox Alto keyset.jpg|upright|thumb|The Alto keyset is a [[chorded keyboard]] that never became popular.]]
The Alto is the first computer with a graphical operating system, and was built on earlier graphical interface designs. It was conceived in 1972 in a memo written by [[Butler Lampson]], inspired by the [[NLS (computer system)|oN-Line System]] (NLS) developed by [[Douglas Engelbart]] and Dustin Lindberg at [[SRI International]] (SRI). Of further influence was the [[PLATO (computer system)|PLATO education system]] developed at the Computer-based Education Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dear|first=Brian|title=The Friendly Orange Glow: The untold story of the PLATO System and the dawn of cyberculture|date=2017|publisher=Pantheon Books|isbn=978-1-101-87155-3|pages=186–187}}</ref> The Alto was designed mostly by [[Charles P. Thacker]]. Industrial Design and manufacturing was sub-contracted to Xerox's Special Programs Group in [[El Segundo, California|El Segundo]], whose team included program manager Doug Stewart, operations manager [[Abbey Silverstone]], and industrial designer Bob Nishimura. An initial run of 30 units was produced by the Special Programs Group, working with [[John Ellenby]] at PARC and Stewart and Silverstone at El Segundo, who were responsible for re-designing the Alto's electronics. Due to the success of the pilot run, the team went on to produce approximately 2,000 units over the next ten years.<ref name=clement>{{cite web |title=The History of the Xerox Alto |first=Carl J. |last=Clement |work=The Alto From The Industrial Designer's Perspective |date=March 2002 |url=https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2022/05/102806105-05-01-acc.pdf}}</ref>

Several Xerox Alto chassis are on display at the [[Computer History Museum]] in [[Mountain View, California]], one is on display at the [[Mimms Museum of Technology and Art]] in [[Roswell, Georgia]], and several are in private hands. Running systems are on display at the [[System Source Computer Museum]] in [[Hunt Valley, Maryland|Hunt Valley]], [[Maryland]]. Charles P. Thacker was awarded the 2009 [[Turing Award]] of the [[Association for Computing Machinery]] on March 9, 2010, for his pioneering design and realization of the Alto.<ref>{{cite web |title=ACM Turing Award Goes to Creator of First Modern Personal Computer |url=http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/2010/turing-award-09 |last=Gold |first=Virginia |date=2010 |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |access-date=January 11, 2011 |archive-date=March 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311223801/http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/2010/turing-award-09 |url-status=live }}</ref> The 2004 [[Charles Stark Draper Prize]] was awarded to Thacker, [[Alan Kay|Alan C. Kay]], Butler Lampson, and [[Robert Taylor (computer scientist)|Robert W. Taylor]] for their work on Alto.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nae.edu/Activities/Projects20676/Awards/20681/PastWinners/page20048879.aspx |title="2004 Recipients of the Charles Stark Draper Prize" |access-date=November 15, 2011 |archive-date=November 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105150119/http://www.nae.edu/Activities/Projects20676/Awards/20681/PastWinners/page20048879.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>

On October 21, 2014, [[source code]] for Alto software, and other resources, were released by the Computer History Museum.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/xerox-alto-source-code/ |quote=''With the permission of the Palo Alto Research Center, the Computer History Museum is pleased to make available, for non-commercial use only, snapshots of Alto source code, executables, documentation, font files, and other files from 1975 to 1987.'' |title=Xerox Alto Source Code - The roots of the modern personal computer |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |first=Paul |last=McJones |work=Software Gems: The Computer History Museum Historical Source Code Series |date=October 21, 2014 |access-date=January 8, 2015 |archive-date=January 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102201034/http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/xerox-alto-source-code/ |url-status=live }}</ref>