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PC, Ethernet, and Tablet Computer Pioneer Chuck Thacker Passes

posted by on Thursday June 15 2017, @09:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the titanic dept.

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

El Reg reports

Computer Science has lost a titan: Charles P. "Chuck" Thacker died on Monday, June 12th, aged 74.

As the Association for Computing Machinery's In Memoriam records, Thacker's early career saw him join Xerox's famed Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where he worked on the Xerox Alto, the first personal computer to offer a graphical interface. Source code for the Alto was released in 2014.

Thacker was responsible for the Alto's hardware and while developing it got to thinking about how the computer might communicate with the outside world. Those musings eventually turned into Ethernet, with Thacker acknowledged as a co-inventor beside Robert Metcalfe, David Boggs, and Butler Lampson.

Thacker also worked on early laser printers and, after time at DEC where he worked on a pen-based computer, he later headed for Microsoft Research where he was once rumoured to be working on a "wireless e-book", but probably the design for hardware to run Windows XP Tablet PC Edition (one of which we evaluated way back in the year 2002.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 15 2017, @11:07PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 15 2017, @11:07PM (#526244)

    You say that like computers are even relevant anymore. They're not. Zuckerberg is the Founding Father of the modern era. Thacker is old school and dead just like he should be.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 15 2017, @11:47PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 15 2017, @11:47PM (#526253)

    Isn't worthy enough to eat Chuck's shit.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 15 2017, @11:57PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 15 2017, @11:57PM (#526260)

      Chuck is dead meat now, Fuckerberg can eat him for real.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 16 2017, @03:12AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 16 2017, @03:12AM (#526305)

        They were water brothers?