Technology · Research systemsMid-1970s
The Xerox Alto
Your research lab has combined a bitmap screen, mouse, graphical interface, networking, email, and what-you-see-is-what-you-get editing. The machine is extraordinary—and extraordinarily expensive.
- The first Alto cost Xerox roughly $12,000 to build.
- A commercial version might have needed a price near $40,000.
- Thousands can be placed in research and office settings, but personal-computer demand is still unproven.
What happened next
Influence traveled farther than the product.
Thousands of Altos were built and many were distributed, but none were sold as a commercial product. Xerox later commercialized related ideas in other systems while the Alto became a foundation stone in personal-computing history.
$12kApproximate first-unit cost
$40kMuseum’s possible sale-price estimate
0Altos sold commercially
This is not the simplistic claim that Xerox invented every modern interface and gave it away. The Alto was a costly research system, and Xerox did pursue related commercial products.
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