Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

sri.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 122 posts

Re: Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

#91

Post by packetslave »

lovecg wrote: post #58
VagueMag wrote: post #23

For something of its size and influence very few people have heard of SRI, but it comes up frequently in 'noided online discussions about the overlap between Silicon Valley and military/intelligence. A lot of the things that PARC was credited with creating in the first place were really dreamed up at SRI, so it makes a certain sense for them to be merging: https://squamuglia.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/67/#more-67 https…

Most people have heard of Siri though that was named after SRI!

No it wasn't. https://www.gottabemobile.com/why-siri-is-called-siri/

Re: Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

#92

Post by MaysonL »

usr1106 wrote: post #3

As a software engineer since the 1980s, of course I know (Xerox) PARC. But am I the only one for whom SRI does not ring any bells? I'm confident Wikipedia can tell me more, but if they don't tell in their press release I would claim they might overestimate their "brand".

Back in the ‘700s I was blown away reading some of Doug Engelbart’s research reports hot off the CopyFlo®. See “The Mother of All Demos” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos

Re: Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

#93

Post by iancmceachern »

gumby wrote: post #51
usr1106 wrote: post #3

As a software engineer since the 1980s, of course I know (Xerox) PARC. But am I the only one for whom SRI does not ring any bells? I'm confident Wikipedia can tell me more, but if they don't tell in their press release I would claim they might overestimate their "brand".

SRI is where Doug Engelbart worked developed the mouse and windowing interface (among other things) and put together the "Mother of all Demos". SRI where the original ARPANET NIC was, and had various important roles in the development of the net. I really don't think they overestimated their brand, they just talk to their likely customers. (I worked at PARC, never at SRI, but I had many friends from SRI, and there wa…

Also Surgical Robotics and Intuitive's Da Vinci:

https://www.sri.com/hoi/telerobotic-surgery/

Re: Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

#94

Post by iancmceachern »

jldugger wrote: post #37
usr1106 wrote: post #3

As a software engineer since the 1980s, of course I know (Xerox) PARC. But am I the only one for whom SRI does not ring any bells? I'm confident Wikipedia can tell me more, but if they don't tell in their press release I would claim they might overestimate their "brand".

SRI is like, the secret bit of stanford where the faculty only do research and no teaching. It's where Siri and Nuance came from, and two staffers who worked there in the 50s quit to found FairIssac. Most notably for the HN crowd, its where Englebart worked on his Mother of All Demos, and where LaTeX was written.

And Intuitive's Da Vinci:

https://www.sri.com/hoi/telerobotic-surgery/

Re: Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

#95

Post by AlbertCory »

pnw wrote: post #89
smilespray wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come on. Xerox gave away the crown jewels in those meetings.

Xerox received Apple stock for those meetings which they sold in the IPO. I’ve never seen anyone do a calculation of the present value of that stock but it’s probably a significant fraction of Xerox’s market cap today.

I'm pretty sure it was sold a long time ago.

However, in here: https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight

I calculate some of the other PARC spinoffs they did. If they'd held onto all of it, it would dwarf the value of the copier & printer business.

Re: Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

#96

Post by DoingIsLearning »

VagueMag wrote: post #23

For something of its size and influence very few people have heard of SRI, but it comes up frequently in 'noided online discussions about the overlap between Silicon Valley and military/intelligence. A lot of the things that PARC was credited with creating in the first place were really dreamed up at SRI, so it makes a certain sense for them to be merging: https://squamuglia.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/67/#more-67 https…

Much of the Research leading up to the DaVinci Surgical Robot as is known today was in fact under SRI's umbrella, originally with the purpose of having battle field hospitals with remote surgery teleoperation.

Another great example of the overlap between Silicon Valley and military/intelligence. It's disconcerting how great tech for the masses is often spun out of a warfare motivation.

Re: Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

#97

Post by mnky9800n »

AlbertCory wrote: post #68
smilespray wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come on. Xerox gave away the crown jewels in those meetings.

https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight "It's a good story. Unfortunately, it's also wrong in almost every way a story can be wrong." Full details at https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/sites/mac/parc.html and there are many other references on the Web about that visit.

That first link was a fascinating read. I guess you wrote books about it?

Re: Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

#98

Post by eternalban »

AlbertCory wrote: post #86
fatneckbeard wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah well my original point still stands. "PARC was not at all secretive about its work. Its researchers published widely, and there was a regular flow of traffic between PARC and Stanford's computer science community. " as opposed to a military intelligence company where all that would get you fired if not in prison.

I don't know what you're quoting. I was there, though.

I can't recall the female scientist's name, but I am certain have read an 'oral history' where this specific person, present when Apple people show up, angrily calls up Xerox HQ in east coast to protest and was told, over the phone, to "show them everything".

Re: Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

#99

Post by rbanffy »

bhk wrote: post #87
technothrasher wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I hear SRI, I always think of the parapsychology research they did for 20 or so years from ~1970-1990 and their huge clash with the newly founded skeptical organization CSICOP (now CSI) in the late 70's.

Yeah, I wonder how much money they milked out of the DoD on remote viewing and stuff like that.

Ultimate respect to anyone who manages to be paid by the DoD to get high on LSD.

Re: Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to join SRI International

#100

Post by rbanffy »

strangeloops85 wrote: post #17

I think Xerox has been trying to unload PARC for a while, and this just seems like a way for them to do it and get a tax write-off since it's a 'donation'. PARC has already been doing a lot of government contract work, and I've seen teams from PARC and SRI compete for certain programs, so there's definitely synergy there. But I think PARC was historically more commercially oriented than SRI, so there will be some cul…

> I think Xerox has been trying to unload PARC for a while

I wonder why some corporations don't see the value of R&D, or even "incidental" R&D, when you develop something revolutionary while you work on something profitable.

Post reply on HN