"David Friedman" <ddfr@daviddfriedman.nopsam.com> stated in post
ddfr-AC31D9.22084802122007@sfo.news.speakeasy.net on 12/2/07 11:08 PM:

> In article <C378D111.9C0CF%CSMA@gallopinginsanity.com>,
> Snit <CSMA@gallopinginsanity.com> wrote:
>
>> "David Friedman" <ddfr@daviddfriedman.nopsam.com> stated in post
>> ddfr-307CA2.19501502122007@sfo.news.speakeasy.net on 12/2/07 8:50 PM:
>>
>>> In article <elmop-08F80E.19342702122007@nntp1.usenetserver.com>,
>>> "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> In article <iphone-214999.16462002122007@mpls-nnrp-05.inet.qwest.net>,
>>>> O x f o r d <iphone@superphone.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> Hey, Oxford: who is Adele Goldberg, and what crucial role did she play
>>>>>> in Steve Jobs's world?
>>>>>
>>>>> After a world wide search going on for nearly 2 months, 24/7 by 1000's
>>>>> of people, nobody has come up with the secret you keep.
>>>>
>>>> You mean, after a search through your underwear and with you sticking
>>>> your head in the sand and refusing to see the answer spoon fed to you,
>>>> YOU haven't come up with the answer.
>>>>
>>>> Hint: the answer isn't in the sand, nor is it in your underwear.
>>>
>>> Wikipedia entry:
>>>
>>> Adele Goldberg (born July 22, 1945) is a computer scientist who wrote or
>>> co-wrote books on the programming language Smalltalk-80. In the 1970's
>>> she worked for Xerox's PARC laboratory on the Xerox Alto. She refused to
>>> give Steve Jobs a tour of the laboratory unless her superiors would
>>> order her to, which they eventually did.
>>>
>>> She is currently working for Neometron, Inc., of Palo Alto, California.
>>> Goldberg was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in Chicago, Illinois.
>>> In 1994 she was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing
>>> Machinery.
>>
>> I think the answer to the question, though, is that Adele is the one who
>> (grudgingly) gave a short demo of Xerox technology to Jobs and others from
>> Apple. The value of the demo is under some debate, but clearly it had some
>> influence on Jobs, Apple, and - ultimately - the home computer market as a
>> whole.
>
> Hard to tell.
>
> As best I recall, there were two other computer firms doing similar
> projects--home computers with graphical interfaces based on the Xerox
> Parc work--at the same time as Apple (Atari and Amiga). So if Apple
> hadn't done it, perhaps one of those would have taken over the role
> Apple actually played.

Sure: if Apple never existed we would *not* still be using CLI computers...
we would be using some form of GUI. Still, it was Apple who deserves the
credit, even if someone else likely would have done something relatively
similar had they not.


--
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
--Aldous Huxley