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PARC Signs On A Partner: Fujitsu

Posted by timothy on from the wizards-of-ix dept.

leighklotz writes "PARC, which a few years ago was said be be targeted for a spin-off from Xerox, has signed on its first major partner under its new life as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xerox. Fujitsu has announced "Joint Research in Ubiquitous Computing," a three-year sponsored-research plan beginning in January 2005. 'Because we're not a product company, we need a partner like Fujitsu who can deliver our products into the marketplace,' said Teresa Lunt, according to InfoWorld."

21 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Now, at last by RealProgrammer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Fujitsu will make something that works.

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    sigs, as if you care.
    1. Re:Now, at last by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ummm.... what does Fujitsu make that is broken?

      (I've worked with their SPARC and Dual XEON servers. They seem to be doing better than Extreme's network equipment...)

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      READY.
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    2. Re:Now, at last by erikharrison · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Historically, PARC is much like any other (good) think tank. Neat ideas, poor implementations, left for others to mature.

      The grandparent's claim that PARC will help Fujitsu produce stable products is amusing because of this. The people who made the mouse, GUI, WYSIWYG, and ethernet make money are Apple, Apple, Apple, and 3COM, respectively, not PARC

    3. Re:Now, at last by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Uh, you know those original IBM keyboards that everyone raves about? They're made by Fujitsu. I had one that was Fujitsu-labelled back in 1991, and it was only a couple of years ago, when I moved house and had to let go of some unused hardware, that it left my possession in full working order.

      On a secondary note, notice how Fujitsu is a Japanese company? If keeping the high-tech industry and high-tech jobs in America is such a big deal then why is it that there wasn't a single US company prepared to fight for a partnership with PARC? Granted, IBM is exiting the PC arena but PARC is about more than just developing for the desktop, and I would have thought that the PR benefits of dealing with the home of the GUI would be to die for for Apple, HP or someone similar.

      --

      "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
    4. Re:Now, at last by iocat · · Score: 4, Informative

      Despite PARCs perceived failures (like not capitalizing commercially on the GUI), its creation of the laser printer more than made the entire endeavor profitable for Xerox. I suggest reading Dealers of Lightning for a great history of Xerox PARC.

      --

      Dude, I think I can see my house from here.

    5. Re:Now, at last by phaze3000 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Actually, I've had nothing but good experiences with Fujitsu stuff. I'm a big fan in particlar of the Fujitsu-Siemens notebooks (and as far as I'm aware they're much more Fujitsu than Siemens). They seem to be one of the few companies targetting what I want in a laptop - something that's as small and light as possible whilst still being useful, as opposed to the portable desktops many other people produce (IMO 17" screens are really not suitable for laptops).

      I've used a fair few Fujitsu servers without any problems too..

      --
      Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
    6. Re:Now, at last by euxneks · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I am now typing on a Fujitsu keyboard. It's very nice.. Clicky clicky. =) It's big, and heavy, but I can probably type faster with this keyboard than any other keyboard I've ever used.

      --
      in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
  2. And this time... by Nonillion · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't let Steve Jobs and Bill Gates rip off your hard work.....

    --
    "I bow to no man" - Riddick
  3. Pc load letter... WTF does that mean? by deepcameo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Xerox shouldn't start spinning things off untill they can make a user friendly copier that doesn't leave one wondering... PC load letter?

    1. Re:Pc load letter... WTF does that mean? by QuaZar666 · · Score: 2, Informative

      you must have never used one one of their Xerox Docutech stations which has lights to tell you when a tray is out of paper. Now it still will use paper as long as one of the other trays contain the same type of paper, which can be set within the system.

      - Qua

  4. Excellent news, but what's next? by jarich · · Score: 2, Funny
    So, when will PARC be able to copy this again? They'll need all their game pieces in place if they want to be able to have a monopoly.

    ;)

    Seriously though, if they can spin off another group, it can be parallel PARC-ing while the other group drives on.

    (Ducking and running now)

    --
    Agile Artisans
  5. Before you ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Teresa Lunt is not cute

    -dk

  6. RC, ARC, PARC, SPARC by morcheeba · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ok, I should have seen this coming. Fujitsu sells RC extraction tools, has licensed an ARC core and they make SPARC processors. Obviously PARC was the missing link!

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  7. Who needs others... by Infonaut · · Score: 4, Insightful
    to stereotype geeks, when we do it so nicely to ourselves.

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    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
  8. Buy! by mrshoe · · Score: 3, Funny

    Quick, buy some Fujitsu stock... they're bound to steal some revolutionary ideas the guys at PARC have been sitting on unknowingly.

    --
    There are two types of people in this world: those that categorize other people and those that don't.
  9. Uh, no [was:Hey, look right next door!] by GoBears · · Score: 2, Informative

    Fuji Xerox is a joint venture between Fuji Film and Xerox. Whereas Fujitsu is a computer company, analogous in a number of ways to IBM.

  10. And this time...Alternate copycat. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Don't let Steve Jobs and Bill Gates rip off your hard work....."

    Yeah! Let the OSS community do it.

  11. Re:Marking is important by fireboy1919 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I agree. Just the other day, I heard about a company went under when they fired their star programmer for leaving a disk labeled "main project-2004" on his desk (which was used in a presentation to the venture capitalists), instead of marking it "Sesame street - hardcore pr0n." He just didn't have a marker.

    To make a long story short, the company didn't get the investment they needed due to a bad presentation, and they went under.

    I don't think Fujitsu is really known for it's marking...shouldn't they have merged with another company?

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  12. Apple? by koi88 · · Score: 2, Funny


    Because we're not a product company, we need a partner like Fujitsu who can deliver our products into the marketplace,'

    I thought this is Apple's job...

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    I don't need a signature.
  13. Re:Marking is important by anagama · · Score: 2, Insightful

    my goodness, I hope (but doubt) that the "interesting" mod is a continuation of the joke posed by the parent post. Somehow though, I think that "insightful" would have been funnier. Someone with mod points willing to correct? hint: mark it "funny".

    --
    What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
  14. Wait a minute! by AbraCadaver · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did you just say "let go of some unused hardware"?? That's it, hand in your slashdot number! No self respecting geek actually gets rid of old hardware, it's suppose to just get burried underneath all the other junk -
    Like, For example, the Timex Sinclair 1000 I found recently while moving a small stack of books and papers :P