Y Combinator's Xerox Alto: restoring the legendary 1970s GUI computer

Re:Y Combinator's Xerox Alto: restoring the legendary 1970s ... by kens on Saturday June 18, 2016 @06:34PM (#11930945)

I'm not seeing the aesthetic similarity between the Mac and the Alto, except that they're both beige, have a mouse, and are taller than wide. What specifically do you see in common?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Y Combinator's Xerox Alto: restoring the legendary 1970s ... by fabled_giraffe on Saturday June 18, 2016 @11:10PM (#11931642)

Monitors back then were wide then and the Alto turned the screen on its side. The Mac somewhat similarly had a screen that wasn't wide. The Mac mouse is also copied from the Alto's if you look at the shape.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Y Combinator's Xerox Alto: restoring the legendary 1970s ... by kens on Sunday June 19, 2016 @01:16AM (#11931864)

I'm not following you here - the Mac had a wide monitor, standard 4:3 CRT, totally unlike the Alto's portrait display. The Mac's mouse had one button, while the Alto's mouse had three buttons. Both had a rectangular shape, but that's the obvious shape to use (see Engelbart's mouse).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Y Combinator's Xerox Alto: restoring the legendary 1970s ... by setpatchaddress on Sunday June 19, 2016 @01:02AM (#11931845)

What Mac are you talking about? The classic Mac screen was wider than it was tall.

[ Parent | on HN ]