
How Xerox Invented the Copier and Artists Pushed It to Its Limits - jimsojim
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-xerox-invented-the-copier-and-artists-pushed-it-too-its-limits
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ChrisNorstrom
Xerox has really fallen. Just a month ago I returned a $12,000 Xerox DocuMate
scanner because it lacked the features a $500 Fujitsu scanner had. No joke,
this is a fallen American company. They outsourced so much of their software
development they don't have proper "auto-straightening" and have the most
terrible "auto-crop to length and width" I've ever seen. I toyed with the
$12,000 hunk of garbage for a week. Reading manuals, visiting forums. Turns
out that's the way it ships. Twas returned and I learned a very valuable
lesson.

This is why tech companies from Asia are winning, not only are they cheaper,
they're better in nearly every way. This era of CEOs outsourcing and
downsizing to temporarily increase profit and stock is going to have very long
term consequences. Mainly the downfall of their own companies. This is what
happens when you lack pride, lack loyalty, and lack long term vision.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
The whole industry has been struggling with quality issues for years, printer
software is atrocious.

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mgkimsal
10 years ago I was hoping apple would get in to the printer business. It
seemed(s?) ripe for disruption with a new entrant that simplifies aspects, has
better hardware/software pairings and 'just works'. Given apple's swing in the
last few years, it might not be a great idea now, but it felt like an area
they should have entered 10 years ago.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
Apple used to sell printers:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apple_printers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apple_printers)

~~~
digi_owl
Why their bedrock market is in the publishing/print media segment. The Mac had
a companion printer that was set up to match the screen. Thus you got WYSIWYG
editing of documents etc.

This i think was a massive contributor to the attention Apple got regarding
their iPod, because it was a known brand for all the newspapers and such. And
since then Apple has been basically leveraging that attention into what it is
today.

But by ignoring what go them that attention, the near ubiquity of Macs in all
manner of media production, they may well be in for a harsh fall indeed.

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bane
I got to see one of the original prototypes, at the time it was sitting near
the lobby of the Battelle Memorial Institute (who provided much of the R&D for
the process and is often forgotten) across the street from the Ohio State
University. It was an almost hilarious manual process, almost more like
developing film with dry chemicals and powders than the hidden, clean,
mechanical process we see today...but it still worked. I imagine it's still
there, and if anybody is in the area, it's worth stopping by to see a
demonstration of it -- I couldn't find one on youtube, but I did find this
explanation.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZKbvPFrc0I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZKbvPFrc0I)

~~~
digi_owl
That video was annoying to listen to...

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EvanAnderson
If you find this interesting you might find Risographs and their appropriation
by artists interesting: [http://www.woollypress.com/the-riso-
museum/](http://www.woollypress.com/the-riso-museum/)

I don't find a lot of people who know what a Risograph is. For jobs in the
hundreds to 10,000 range it can be the most economical solution. The printing
process is delightfully mechanical. The machines are, at the same time, very
similar to network-attached laser printers, complete with Ethernet interfaces
and printer drivers for common operating systems.

~~~
yardie
I used to work in DTP ages ago and this link brings back so many memories.

Also, our strippers were 50+ year old women with a drinking problem and a
penchant for getting dirty.

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keithpeter
A friend of mine once came upon Helen Chadwick photocopying a sedated badger
(as you do) in Birmingham Art Gallery for an installation. A brief
conversation ensued, constrained somewhat by the need to return the animal to
its keeper.

I was a bit surprised at the lack of work discussed in the OA as I remember it
being all over in small galleries in the 70s and 80s.

[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/plag/5240451.0001.003/\--copy-
thi...](http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/plag/5240451.0001.003/--copy-this-a-
historical-perspective-on-the-use?rgn=main;view=fulltext)

