1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:11,840 Speaker 1: Get in text with technology with tech Stuff from dot Com. 2 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody, and welcome to Tech Stuff. I am 3 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer here at 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works, and you guys know I love tech 5 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: And if you've listened to the last two episodes, then 6 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 1: you are aware that we've been talking about the company Xerox, 7 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:31,640 Speaker 1: which is more than a hundred years old. It was 8 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: founded in nineteen o six, and originally I thought it 9 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,240 Speaker 1: was gonna be a two parter. Uh. I was certain 10 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: that's as long as it was going to need to be, 11 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: because I thought, even though there's a lot of stuff 12 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: that Xerox has contributed to technology, I could probably sum 13 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: it up in two parts. But the interesting origin of 14 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: Xbox ended up taking Xbox Xerox took up a lot 15 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: of time, and the Xerox origin having so little to 16 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: do with what Xerox does today. I mean, it was 17 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: about photographic paper, uh, and if it would it would 18 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: not even evolve into photo copy years until decades after 19 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: its founding. But it was really interesting to hear about 20 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: the different values that were instilled as part of the 21 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: corporate character of Xerox. Then all that stuff about the 22 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 1: Palo Alto Research Center or Xerox Park was also incredibly fascinating. 23 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: I mean, Xerox Park is where a lot of development 24 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: happened on things that are now standard in personal computers, 25 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,320 Speaker 1: but at the time it was all very much cutting 26 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: edge technology. I mean, the park started in nineteen seventy 27 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 1: and they started working on things like graphic user interfaces, 28 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:47,480 Speaker 1: computer mouse, bitmapped icons, lots of stuff that would find 29 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: its way into standard computer use more than a decade 30 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: later was happening at Xerox at the time. And finally, 31 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: as I was looking into more recent years at Xerox, 32 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: I realized I couldn't just summarize what had happened. If 33 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: I did, it would be short shrift and we'd be 34 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: going bullet points, and that's not how I like to 35 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 1: do this show. So I decided I needed to go 36 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:12,799 Speaker 1: into more detail. So that's where we are now, at 37 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: the thrilling conclusion of the Xerox story. So so far, anyway, 38 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: I mean, we gotta mention that's not really the conclusion. 39 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: The company does still exist, although it has gone through 40 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:27,399 Speaker 1: some pretty major changes barely recently. So let's jump back 41 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: into the main company of Xerox. In our last episode, 42 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:34,240 Speaker 1: we switched to focus on the Palo Alto Research Center 43 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: once it was found in nineteen seventy. But what was 44 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: going on back at Xerox Prime during that same time. Well, 45 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen seventies, everything was going pretty well 46 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: over at Xerox. They had created the most profitable product 47 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: of all time with the nine fourteen copier. Remember it 48 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,639 Speaker 1: was called the nine fourteen because those were the dimensions 49 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: of paper it could accept. It could accept up to 50 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: nine inches by fourteen inches, and us was a photo 51 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: copier that could make copies much faster than alternative methods. 52 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 1: It also was less messy than using something like carbon 53 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:11,959 Speaker 1: copies and a mimiograph machine. The company also held patents 54 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: on the various technologies that went into photo copiers, so 55 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: it gave them an effective monopoly on their specific approach. 56 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: You know, if you patent a technology, no one else 57 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: is allowed to create a technology that works that same 58 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: way unless they first pay you a licensing fee. If 59 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: you agree to license it, then sure they can do it, 60 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: but otherwise you have exclusive rights to that technology until 61 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: the patent expires, which is a little bit more than 62 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: a decade. Well, the profit margin on those big enterprise machines. 63 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: Enterprise being that they were selling these two companies right 64 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: they were not selling nine fourteen copiers to the average consumer. 65 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: They were selling them to big offices. The profit margin 66 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: was super high, like in the seventy percent range of 67 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: the money was pure profit. That means that they were 68 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: able to sell the machines for more than what it 69 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: costs for them to build them. And that's an incredible 70 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: profit margin for any kind of technology. And that just 71 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: means that they were really expensive machines and people were 72 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,599 Speaker 1: willing to pay for them because of the level of 73 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: convenience they offered. But as Joe Wilson, who was one 74 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: of the early leaders of Xerox, might have said, sitting 75 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: back and relying on past innovations can only be effective 76 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: for so long. The patents on xerox Is technology were 77 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:38,679 Speaker 1: close to expiring, so pretty soon anyone with the means 78 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: could use those same approaches to make similar technologies. And 79 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: that seventy profit margin, while it was great for Xerox 80 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: right there at the moment, meant that other companies would 81 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: have a chance to come in and cut prices. Maybe 82 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: they're looking for a profit margin that's a lot more modest, 83 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: and they could end up selling their copiers for far 84 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: less than Xerox was and undercut the competition sition. In 85 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, Joe Wilson passed away. Now I mentioned 86 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: that in the previous episode, so I'm not going to 87 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: dwell on it here, but his passing was marked by 88 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: public displays of respect across Rochester, New York, where he 89 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: grew up, where he lived most of his life, and 90 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 1: also within Xerox itself. Archie McCardell became the president of Xerox, 91 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 1: while C. Peter McCullough remained the CEO. You remember McCullough 92 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: took over for for Wilson. The mid seventies started to 93 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: get a little more challenging for Xerox. First of all, 94 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,359 Speaker 1: you had other companies like Cannon and various copier companies 95 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: in Japan entering the marketplace with competing products. Xerox still 96 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: made up the majority of copiers in the marketplace. They 97 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 1: were effectively a monopoly for the for several years, but 98 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: they soon had to contend with these newcomers. Later, still, 99 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: IBM would get into the copy of business, which was 100 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: also a little bit foreboding to Xerox, and a few 101 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: there's also started to kind of dip their toe into it. Meanwhile, 102 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: companies like HP, we're working on technologies that would bring 103 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 1: them into competition with Xerox in ways the copier company 104 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 1: couldn't anticipate at the time, like in ink jet printing. 105 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: In jet printing, while it's not the same thing as 106 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 1: photo copying, did allow people to make copies of stuff 107 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: by printing extra copies as opposed to printing one copy 108 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: and then taking that to the photo copier to make 109 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: more copies. HP took some of the need away from 110 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: offices from having these giant photo copiers. So it was 111 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: a level of competition that Xerox had not anticipated. Xerox 112 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: began to see that incredible domination in the market start 113 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 1: to lose ground. In fact, it began to lose ground 114 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: pretty dramatically over the next several years. Now, in the 115 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,599 Speaker 1: last episode, I mentioned that Xerox Park was hard at 116 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:52,039 Speaker 1: work on several innovations, one of the biggest being the Alto. Now, 117 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: this could have been the first personal computer on the market. 118 00:06:55,640 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: The Xerox Alto could have been the ubiquitous or personal computer. 119 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: It could have been there instead of the Apple Too, 120 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: But uh, that just didn't work out, and why Well, 121 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: the reasons are a little complicated. First of all, Xerox 122 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: Alta was years ahead of other products like the Apple Too, 123 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: because it actually did have a graphic user interface. It 124 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: was essentially a Windows style machine, though Microsoft Windows did 125 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: not exist yet, but it was that same sort of 126 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: user interface that Microsoft Windows would be now. The fact 127 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: that Xerox didn't see the opportunity in consumer personal computers 128 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 1: led a lot of people after the fact to say 129 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: that they really were lacking foresight and initiative, and that 130 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: they weren't embracing that spirit of innovation the way Xerox 131 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: had earlier in its in its existence, that's a lot 132 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: easier to say in hindsight. At the time, it might 133 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: have seemed weird to go into a consumer technology, which 134 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: by definition tends to have much lower profit margins than 135 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: doing these business to business deals which had made the 136 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: company bookous of money's. Xerox ended up creating their first 137 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: color copier, the Xerox hundred, around this time, so there 138 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: was some still some innovation going on in their main business, 139 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: and in nineteen seventy four, Xerox opened a new facility 140 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: in Mississaugua, Ontario, Canada. And I know, I know Canadians, 141 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: I know I mispronounced it. I I realized that I 142 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,960 Speaker 1: feel shame, a deep sense of shame and despair. But 143 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: I'm just a simple man reading notes off my computer screen, 144 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: so so give me some slack. This was the Xerox 145 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 1: Research Center of Canada, also known as the x r 146 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: c C. Initially the purpose of this research facility was 147 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: to engineer new chemical processes and products for use in 148 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: xerox is businesses. Today, the x r c C bills 149 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:00,680 Speaker 1: itself as quote Canada's leading materials research enter and home 150 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,200 Speaker 1: to a world class team of scientists and engineers with 151 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:09,439 Speaker 1: broad expertise and materials chemistry, formulation, design, prototyping, testing, and 152 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: chemical process engineering end quote. They work both with Xerox 153 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: and external customers, which typically would be other big companies. 154 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: Now Xerox agreed to license copier patents to other companies, 155 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: which seems really big of them, right like they were 156 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: they had all these these different patents that kept them 157 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: in this effective monopoly. Seems really generous to agree to 158 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:40,360 Speaker 1: extend licenses to various companies, you know, in exchange for 159 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: a fee seems really nice. Well, it wasn't out of 160 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: the kindness of xerox executive's hearts. Xerox had actually become 161 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: the target for an antitrust lawsuit and the government was 162 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,960 Speaker 1: essentially demanding that the company offer up licensing agreements for 163 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: their patents. So this was kind of the company's way 164 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: of soothing things over. Within a short amount of time, 165 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:04,440 Speaker 1: the move did exactly what the people at Xerox were 166 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,960 Speaker 1: afraid would happen. It allowed competitors to leverage Xerox's technologies 167 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: and so copiers for much lower prices. Xerox is near 168 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:17,080 Speaker 1: one market share would drop below twenty percent in just 169 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 1: a couple of years. That's dramatic when you go from 170 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 1: a percent market domination to less than twenty percent of 171 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: the market in some cases, I've seen estimates between thirteen 172 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:33,960 Speaker 1: and fourteen percent. That's crazy. It is, however, something that 173 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: we've seen in other technologies like smartphone operating systems. iOS 174 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:42,839 Speaker 1: dominated shortly for a while, and then Android caught up, 175 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: and then now Android dominates just by sheer numbers. Was 176 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: also the year that Xerox stopped trying to make mainframe 177 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:53,559 Speaker 1: style computers. They got out of that business. They had 178 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:56,160 Speaker 1: bought into it a few years earlier, and it turned 179 00:10:56,160 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 1: out they just could not make that business work. Five 180 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: was also the year Xerox launched an incredibly popular advertising campaign. 181 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: This was called the brother Dominic campaign. It featured a 182 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: monk creating an illustrated manuscript by hands, so he's writing 183 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,040 Speaker 1: out in calligraphy this manuscript, only to be told by 184 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: his superiors that they need hundreds more copies. So the 185 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: monk takes his illustrated page to the copy center in 186 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:26,440 Speaker 1: the monastery, since we all know that monasteries have these, 187 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:30,000 Speaker 1: right and he then goes and makes five hundred copies 188 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: using a big Xerox machine. And when he returns to 189 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: his superiors shortly after he was asked to make the 190 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,760 Speaker 1: copies in the first place, they look at the amount 191 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,920 Speaker 1: of work he has accomplished so quickly and reply, it's 192 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 1: a miracle. Now. This campaign would include several more variations 193 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:48,280 Speaker 1: on this theme and would make a return just a 194 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: couple of years ago with an updated technology found in 195 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,960 Speaker 1: Xerox document centers. So it's a very popular, award winning 196 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:59,200 Speaker 1: ad campaign. And again not just a couple of years ago, 197 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:01,439 Speaker 1: they did an update that was kind of cute about 198 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: how you could use Xerox technologies to do things like 199 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:11,440 Speaker 1: translate documents. It could have automatic detection of language and 200 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 1: then translated into other languages and print it in those 201 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:18,640 Speaker 1: other languages, which is pretty cool thing. Actually, it seems 202 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: kind of magical to me. I guess it is a miracle. 203 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:26,079 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy six, Kodak, remember that was Xerox is 204 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: old competitor from the old old days when it was 205 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: the Halloyd Corporation. Kodak was the big boy in town 206 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: and Halloyd was the teeny tiny little competitor. Well, now 207 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: Kodak switches the the scales and becomes the smaller competitor 208 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:44,320 Speaker 1: in the copier game. That add more pressure onto Xerox. 209 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:46,960 Speaker 1: This was also the last year that Xerox sold a 210 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: nine fourteen copier six. They phased it out of sales 211 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: from that point forward, although they did still provide field 212 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,520 Speaker 1: service for nine fourteen copiers that had already been sold 213 00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: to customers. Zero made a move in nineteen seventy nine 214 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: to purchase Western Union International that ended up being a 215 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:09,240 Speaker 1: failed experiment. The company was trying to create a telecommunications network. 216 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: They were really looking to diversify beyond photocopying, so they 217 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: were they were definitely looking at ways that they could 218 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,840 Speaker 1: branch out so they weren't dependent upon a business that 219 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 1: was getting siphoned away from them. But this telecommunications network 220 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 1: experiment was a failure, and in nine Xerox would sell 221 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 1: off Western Union International to m c I, and they 222 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: took a loss on that sale, so it was an 223 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:38,240 Speaker 1: expensive lesson to learn. In nineteen eighties, Xerox formed an 224 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:41,719 Speaker 1: official environment, Health, and Safety organization and became one of 225 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: the first big American companies to do so. The purpose 226 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: of this group is to design and implement environmental and 227 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 1: sustainability programs at Xerox. By Xerox had started to introduce 228 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:57,160 Speaker 1: the Star computer workstation, which was technically the first consumer 229 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:00,560 Speaker 1: computer to feature a mouse, and whizzy Wig software wasizz 230 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: the Wagan case, you don't remember, stands for what you 231 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: see is what you get, So you can actually edit 232 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,840 Speaker 1: within the framework of whatever document you're using, and it 233 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 1: looks exactly the way it should when you print it 234 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 1: or produce it. This is standard today, but back back 235 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:19,680 Speaker 1: then it was not standard. The thing that you were 236 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: looking at on a screen often had very little relationship 237 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 1: with whatever it would print out on a piece of paper. 238 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 1: But this Star computer workstation was not compatible with other 239 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: systems and was a bit underpowered all things considered, and 240 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: ultimately it languished in the market. Apple computers would pass 241 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 1: it by easily, even though they didn't have all the 242 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:45,400 Speaker 1: bells and whistles that the Star computer workstation did back 243 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: in one. Apple would catch up by eight four when 244 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:52,040 Speaker 1: they started to incorporate the Mac operating system and had 245 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: their Windows based user interface incorporated in that. But at 246 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: the time Xerox's computer was was pretty advanced from a 247 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:06,440 Speaker 1: software perspective, hardware it was kind of lacking in McCullough 248 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: stepped down as the CEO and David Kaarns became CEO 249 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: of Xerox, and one thing Kairns did was to guide 250 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:18,320 Speaker 1: Xerox into some acquisitions to expand the company into financial services, 251 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: including insurance. Eventually, this would become a huge burden to 252 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 1: the company as it found itself financially obligated to resolve 253 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: billions of dollars in insurance liabilities. So it became kind 254 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 1: of an albatross around the metaphorical neck of Xerox. At 255 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 1: this point, the revenues of the company were eight point 256 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:42,960 Speaker 1: five billion dollars. Xerox would continue to experiment with new products, 257 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 1: including new copiers that had micro computers incorporated directly into 258 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: the product that of course has continued up to present day. 259 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: And it also had a low bandwidth ethernet as a 260 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: communications interface built into these new copiers, which is kind 261 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 1: of cool. Xerox also produced a fax machine in nine 262 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: that could be linked by network to other office equipment, 263 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:06,800 Speaker 1: So again they were producing some stuff that was ahead 264 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 1: of the curve. But around this time Xerox also pioneer 265 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:13,080 Speaker 1: to practice that you might not be aware of. It's 266 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: kind of creepy. So laser printing was becoming more commonplace 267 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen eighties, and that included the capability 268 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,600 Speaker 1: to print in full color with certain types of printers. 269 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 1: One concern that arose from this development of technology was 270 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:31,760 Speaker 1: the possibility of using that kind of printer to produce 271 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: counterfeit documents and currency. If you could make it look 272 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: convincing enough, you might be able to have a pretty 273 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: convincing counterfeit and pass it off as the real thing. Now, 274 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: Xerox determined that one way to protect against this, or 275 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: at least track instances so that you could find their 276 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:51,560 Speaker 1: points of origin. Would be to include some sort of 277 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:56,400 Speaker 1: encoding strategy so that the printers being used would print 278 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: a tracking information directly on to the paper and do 279 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,600 Speaker 1: it in such a way that it's not obvious. And 280 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,119 Speaker 1: thus tiny yellow dots began to find their way into 281 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 1: print jobs. Now, those yellow dots, which are easiest to 282 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:12,639 Speaker 1: see if you shine a blue led light on the paper, 283 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: encode specific information onto the paper itself. The information includes 284 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 1: the serial number of the the printer, the date of printing, 285 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,639 Speaker 1: and more or the copier as well. So the dots 286 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: are yellow and paper is typically white, and that means 287 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,399 Speaker 1: you have a very low contrast between the toner and 288 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,040 Speaker 1: the paper that makes it really tricky to spot. And 289 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:39,159 Speaker 1: the dots are actually pretty tiny, so it's likely you 290 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: would not notice them without a magnifying glass and a 291 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: blue light. But if you wanted, you could shine a 292 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:46,920 Speaker 1: blue light on a piece of paper that had gone 293 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,359 Speaker 1: through a Xerox printer or copier, you could use the 294 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,120 Speaker 1: magnifying glass, you could find these dots, and you could 295 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: track any document back to the printer that produced it. 296 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 1: You'd even know when the print job took place. The 297 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 1: day would be included in that information, and that sort 298 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:05,359 Speaker 1: of information could be come in particularly handy during a 299 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,399 Speaker 1: case involving counterfeits. But it might creep you out to 300 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: know that your print outs have been including information about you, 301 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: or at least your printer all the way up to 302 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:17,520 Speaker 1: this point. This's, by the way, a standard practice. You 303 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:21,520 Speaker 1: can find lots of printers that will include stuff at 304 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: a very tiny, unnoticeable level, at least unnoticeable to the 305 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 1: naked eye, but they leave traces that make it much 306 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,959 Speaker 1: easier to figure where did that piece of paper come from, 307 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 1: who printed it? Including it as a serial number, and 308 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,680 Speaker 1: the serial numbers registered to somebody, it makes it much 309 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 1: easier to track down the origin of that piece of paper, 310 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 1: at least the print out, not the paper itself. So 311 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:51,440 Speaker 1: it's kind of creepy in a way. It's also potentially useful. Now. 312 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: Law enforcement, for their parts, say that they don't really 313 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: use this unless they're looking into counterfeits. They're not necessarily 314 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:00,040 Speaker 1: taking every sheet of paper that has been printed it 315 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: and then looking for these dots and then tracking it 316 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: back to the original printer for further investigation. But still 317 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,960 Speaker 1: kind of interesting. Something I was not aware of before 318 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 1: I started doing the research for this podcast, and we've 319 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 1: got a lot more to say about Xerox to wrap 320 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:17,920 Speaker 1: up this story. But before I get into that, let's 321 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:28,720 Speaker 1: take a quick break to thank our sponsor. In six 322 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:32,479 Speaker 1: years before the Worldwide Web with debut, Xerox made a 323 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:36,639 Speaker 1: very forward thinking move. The company registered a top level 324 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:42,440 Speaker 1: domain www. Dot xerox dot com. This was the seventh 325 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: top level domain to be registered with the United States 326 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:50,439 Speaker 1: Department of Defense. Ever, so when you look at the 327 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,239 Speaker 1: top level domains, Xerox was the seventh one. And if 328 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:57,120 Speaker 1: you're wondering about that last statement about the Department of Defense, 329 00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:59,479 Speaker 1: you need to listen up on the old ARPA net 330 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,240 Speaker 1: podcast past episodes I did. The Department of Defenses Advanced 331 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 1: Research Projects Agency or ARPA, which would eventually evolve into DARPA, 332 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: was responsible for designing the foundation for what would become 333 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: the Internet, So all the protocols, uh, they really got 334 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 1: their start both in arpanet and over at xerox Park 335 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,320 Speaker 1: Xerox Park, they did a lot of work that would 336 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 1: end up being incorporated into the fundamental design of the Internet. 337 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:30,359 Speaker 1: Before the Department of Defense essentially backed away from being 338 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: the caretaker of the Internet. All registration ultimately went to 339 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,159 Speaker 1: the Department of Defense. So think about that, if you 340 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:39,399 Speaker 1: wanted to register at top level domain, you had to 341 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:42,000 Speaker 1: send that information to the Department of Defense. That's not 342 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:45,520 Speaker 1: intimidating at all. But Xerox got in early, well before 343 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,560 Speaker 1: any domain squatters could come along and mess things up. 344 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:54,080 Speaker 1: Xerox produced it's two millionth copier in nineteen The company 345 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: was really starting to face fierce competition in the space. 346 00:20:56,359 --> 00:21:01,880 Speaker 1: At this point, Xerox's main concentration remained the enterprise business. Uh, 347 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: they kept on focusing on those big corporate clients as 348 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 1: opposed to trying to really break into the consumer marketplace. 349 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:13,200 Speaker 1: In nineteen Xerox introduced docu Tech. That's a product that 350 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,120 Speaker 1: allowed for scanning, editing, filing, and printing jobs all from 351 00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 1: one product. So kind of like a a photo copier 352 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,400 Speaker 1: on steroids, right. It's the machine that just can do anything, 353 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:28,919 Speaker 1: the Swiss Army photo copier. That's also the year that 354 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,159 Speaker 1: Paul A Laire would become these Xerox CEO. Now A 355 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: Laire had been with the company since nineteen sixty six, 356 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,320 Speaker 1: and it would be when he becomes CEO of the 357 00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:43,480 Speaker 1: company his first moves as CEO were to divest Xerox 358 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 1: of several of the financial services departments the company had 359 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:50,119 Speaker 1: formed in an effort to diversify like those insurance companies 360 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:53,800 Speaker 1: I was talking about. The revenue of the company at 361 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:59,280 Speaker 1: that point was thirteen point six billion dollars. Xerox Park. Meanwhile, 362 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,560 Speaker 1: Create did something kind of cool. It was called lamb 363 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,480 Speaker 1: Da Move, which you might think that means that Xerox 364 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:10,639 Speaker 1: was genetically producing Greek yogurt or something, But that's not 365 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,919 Speaker 1: what was going on, at least not that I know of. Anyway, 366 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 1: Maybe they were doing that too, but that's not what 367 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:19,119 Speaker 1: Lambda move was. Lambda move was an early multi user 368 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:24,159 Speaker 1: object oriented online environment. MOVE stands for multi user object 369 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:29,160 Speaker 1: oriented or sometimes MUD object oriented. MUD, by the way, 370 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,119 Speaker 1: stands for a multi user dungeon. So it all it 371 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,320 Speaker 1: gets very recursive. Think of it as a text based 372 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,080 Speaker 1: environment that allows people to log into it remotely and 373 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: interact with one another. It's a fancy type of chat 374 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: room that has some added capabilities, like little spaces that 375 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,080 Speaker 1: you could define as channels or rooms of their own, 376 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 1: as well as programmed objects within it that can sometimes 377 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,680 Speaker 1: produce effects based upon commands you would type in, but 378 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,760 Speaker 1: it's all text based. Was also when Xerox introduced the 379 00:22:56,800 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 1: DocuTech Production Publisher, the first in its DocuTech series of products. 380 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,720 Speaker 1: It could make copies, manipulate documents, capture images, and more. 381 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,000 Speaker 1: Xerox was adding new features and development from the Park 382 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:11,159 Speaker 1: team in order to differentiate as products from all the 383 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: copiers that were coming out from competing companies. So while 384 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: other companies were selling copiers at lower cost, Xerox started 385 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,720 Speaker 1: producing some that had added features that you could not 386 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 1: find in the competitors products. In three's Severe Tire Damage 387 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,800 Speaker 1: performs a live streaming show at Xerox Park, using the 388 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: multicast backbone to send the performance over the Internet. I 389 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:36,600 Speaker 1: actually covered this in an episode of Tech Stuff not 390 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:38,960 Speaker 1: too long ago. I cannot, for the life of me, 391 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: remember what the topic was, but I remember talking about 392 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:45,359 Speaker 1: severe tire Damage doing their live cast, and I just 393 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the fact that 394 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: I've gotten to talk about severe tire damage twice in 395 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,560 Speaker 1: the same few months. It always seems like it was 396 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: like a couple of weeks ago, but I know it 397 00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: was longer than that. Xerox underwent a little rebrand ding. 398 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: The company would do this several times over the next 399 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 1: couple of decades. They changed their corporate symbol from blue 400 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 1: to red. It had been a blue Xerox, Now it 401 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,600 Speaker 1: was read, and the symbol itself was turned to a 402 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:15,600 Speaker 1: partially digitized X. The company also began to refer to 403 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: itself as the Document Company dash Xerox. In nineteen ninety six, 404 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: Kodak got out of the copy of business, so that 405 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 1: helped a little bit. Xerox revenue hit seventeen point four billion, 406 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:31,480 Speaker 1: and in nineteen seven Zerox released the Document Center digital 407 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:37,000 Speaker 1: copier products. On June of nineteen seven, g Richard Toman 408 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:41,359 Speaker 1: left IBM to join Xerox. Now Toman was tapped to 409 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 1: become the successor to Paul Alaire and would become president 410 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,400 Speaker 1: and CEO in nine seven. This marked the first time 411 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:53,080 Speaker 1: someone from outside Xerox assumed the role of president. On 412 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: April one, nineteen ninety nine, he would be named CEO 413 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,959 Speaker 1: and a Laire would resign from being CEO. Remember, Xerox 414 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,520 Speaker 1: had this policy that when you hit sixty it was 415 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,440 Speaker 1: time for you to resign as CEO. It didn't matter 416 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,359 Speaker 1: what kind of job you were doing. That was the 417 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: tradition that had been established, so if you hit sixty, 418 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 1: it was time for you to get out. Now, a 419 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,399 Speaker 1: layer would step down a CEO, but he remained the 420 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,679 Speaker 1: chairman of the Board of Directors. You might think April 421 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:24,639 Speaker 1: one is a pretty tough day to get named to 422 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: any position, and in this case, you're absolutely right, because 423 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,639 Speaker 1: it ended up being a not so funny joke on Tommin. 424 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: Within thirteen months of assuming the role of CEO, he 425 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,359 Speaker 1: would be relieved of duty. Specifically, he would get the 426 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:40,760 Speaker 1: message from a layer that the board wanted Toman to 427 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: resign from his position or be forcibly removed from it. 428 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:47,959 Speaker 1: In fact, some of the board members said either he 429 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 1: goes or we go as and members of the board 430 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: were threatening to resign unless Tomin was taken out of 431 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:58,200 Speaker 1: the office. So what the heck was happening? Well, first 432 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: of all, to go back to nine nine seven, when 433 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,640 Speaker 1: Tomin became the president and CEO. That was a real 434 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 1: tough year for Xerox. The leadership decided that they needed 435 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:11,720 Speaker 1: to do a massive reorganization and re prioritization, which directly 436 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: translated into cutting jobs. In to the tune of nine 437 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:21,480 Speaker 1: thousand positions that represented about ten percent of Xerox's workforce, 438 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,880 Speaker 1: So just imagine going to work and seeing that one 439 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: out of every ten of your co workers is gone. 440 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:32,640 Speaker 1: That did not help at all that Tomin was coming 441 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:35,800 Speaker 1: into this position, and also that Tomin was coming in 442 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: from outside Xerox rather than rising up in the ranks. 443 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:43,600 Speaker 1: He didn't have the relationships that other Xerox executives had 444 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,119 Speaker 1: formed within the company. A lair who stayed on the 445 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 1: board was kind of the opposite. He had been around 446 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,239 Speaker 1: since nineteen sixty six, and tom And encountered resistance when 447 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:53,600 Speaker 1: he went about to make changes. For one thing, he 448 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 1: found it difficult to convince the board to hire the 449 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 1: management team that he felt was necessary for him to 450 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,439 Speaker 1: get all the stuff he wanted done done. He was saying, well, 451 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:06,480 Speaker 1: I need the management team, but the boards blocking me 452 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 1: on these moves. Now. A layer and several career Xerox 453 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,600 Speaker 1: employees felt that Tomin was really trying to change too 454 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,480 Speaker 1: much too quickly at the company and that he wasn't 455 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:19,760 Speaker 1: taking the time to form the right relationships at work. 456 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,440 Speaker 1: Tom And, for his part, was frustrated at running into 457 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,639 Speaker 1: resistance and at the thought of having to behave in 458 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,399 Speaker 1: a way that wasn't aligned with his leadership style. He 459 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,120 Speaker 1: also said later that he should have insisted a Layer 460 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: step down from Xerox rather than stay on as chairman. 461 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:35,639 Speaker 1: According to Tom And, he and a Laire had reached 462 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: an agreement by which a Laire could attend top management meetings, 463 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,720 Speaker 1: but only if he remained quiet. So a Laire did 464 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 1: attend those meetings, and he did remain quiet. He didn't 465 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,760 Speaker 1: speak at them unless at all, but his presence alone 466 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:52,959 Speaker 1: was undermining Tommins authority, or at least seemed to at 467 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: any rate, with top level executives at Xerox often looking 468 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: at a Layer in response to questions rather than to Tom, 469 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 1: who was the one who was actually supposedly leading the company. 470 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 1: One month after tom And joined Xerox, the company stock 471 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:11,639 Speaker 1: price hit a historic high of nearly sixty four dollars 472 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:16,200 Speaker 1: per share. In the third quarter of the company posted 473 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: an eleven percent drop an income, and investors sold off 474 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: tons of shares, cutting the value of the company by 475 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:27,640 Speaker 1: nearly twenty five percent. Imagine the value of your company 476 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:32,440 Speaker 1: goes down an entire quarter. It's you know, one fourth 477 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 1: of the value of your company is gone. It is 478 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,919 Speaker 1: very sobering By two thousand one, the price of the 479 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 1: stock dropped down to seven dollars per share, and the 480 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: amount of money that that represented collectively, if you multiplied 481 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 1: all the different shares and you looked at the price, 482 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: meant that the company lost thirty eight billion dollars. There 483 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 1: was actually talked for a while of the possibility that 484 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 1: Xerox might enter inter Chapter eleven bankruptcy. As it turned 485 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:02,200 Speaker 1: out that didn't become necessary, but it was flirting with 486 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: that possibility for a while now. Part of the loss 487 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: was due to Xerox's international operations. The company had significant 488 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:12,560 Speaker 1: holdings in Brazil, and Brazil was suffering from a catastrophic 489 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:18,040 Speaker 1: economic crisis in two thousand uh and due to Brazil's 490 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:20,959 Speaker 1: weak currency, it led to Xerox losing about a billion 491 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,040 Speaker 1: dollars of its net worth. Some people said that it 492 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 1: was like Xerox was playing a game in in uh 493 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:29,560 Speaker 1: in converting currency from one form to the other, and 494 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: it was losing. Around the same time, Xerox fired thirteen 495 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:36,960 Speaker 1: employees at its Mexican subsidiary on the grounds that they 496 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 1: had allegedly cooked the books. According to Xerox, those employees 497 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:43,800 Speaker 1: conspired to make it seem as if the subsidiaries performance 498 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 1: was far better than what it really was, So there 499 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:49,520 Speaker 1: was a lot of tension going on inside Xerox at 500 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:52,560 Speaker 1: this time. Tomin was essentially forced to step down and 501 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: an MML Kahi, who had been with Xerox for twenty 502 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,959 Speaker 1: four years, was promoted to president and Chief operating Office. 503 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 1: She stated that Xerox had an quote unsustainable business model 504 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,600 Speaker 1: end quote on an analysis call, but then she did 505 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 1: her best backtrack after that and say that wasn't really 506 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 1: what she meant, but it caused a lot of stir 507 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:18,320 Speaker 1: that she said that xerox Is business model was unsustainable. 508 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,920 Speaker 1: Moll Kay would lead the company to turn it around financially, 509 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,400 Speaker 1: so she actually was able to maneuver Xerox into making 510 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 1: a profit again. By two thousand two, that was the case, 511 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 1: Xerox was making a profit and more Okay, he would 512 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,400 Speaker 1: be both CEO and the chairman of the board of Xerox. 513 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: Two thousand two was also the year that Park spun 514 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: off as a wholly owned Xerox research company. It was 515 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:46,680 Speaker 1: no longer its own division within Xerox. In two thousand four, 516 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 1: ten years after Xerox rebranded itself as the document company, 517 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 1: Dash Xerox. The company had another rebranding and went back 518 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: to being just Xerox in its corporate signature, so that 519 00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 1: that X disappeared and the new logo was just the 520 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:07,640 Speaker 1: word Xerox, but in all upper case letters. Xerox had 521 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:09,760 Speaker 1: a really big year in two thousand six. That had 522 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:12,040 Speaker 1: been a hundred years since the company's founding, so it 523 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: was their centennial. Xerox also acquired a company called x Empie, 524 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,400 Speaker 1: which was a variable information software company, And you might 525 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: wonder what that means. I did. I had no idea 526 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,280 Speaker 1: what a variable information software company did, so I went 527 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,960 Speaker 1: to x empi's web page and I read this. Here's 528 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:35,480 Speaker 1: a direct quote. X Empie, the leading provider of software 529 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 1: of for across media variable data one to one marketing 530 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,680 Speaker 1: offers solutions to help businesses create and manage highly effective 531 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: direct marketing and cross media campaigns. So I guess it's 532 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 1: a marketing company. By the way, this that that isn't 533 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,800 Speaker 1: very good. That's not that's not a very good mission statement. 534 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:56,520 Speaker 1: It's not written very well. I mean, first of all, 535 00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:59,280 Speaker 1: it repeats the word cross media. You get cross media 536 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 1: twice in one and thence that's basic writing. One on 537 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:05,040 Speaker 1: one you don't use the same term twice, and it 538 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 1: includes both the phrases one to one marketing and direct 539 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,720 Speaker 1: marketing in that same sentence, which are essentially the same thing. 540 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:12,719 Speaker 1: But hey, I'm just a writer, what do I know. 541 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:15,480 Speaker 1: Mostly I'm just giving marketing companies a hard time since 542 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: I find that they like consultants frequently obvious skate what 543 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,440 Speaker 1: they really mean with fancy language, and I just used 544 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:26,200 Speaker 1: off u skate And ironically, in two thousand and seven, 545 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:31,000 Speaker 1: Ursula M. Burns would become the president of Xerox. Burns 546 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,760 Speaker 1: had actually started at Xerox in nineteen eighty as a 547 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:38,800 Speaker 1: mechanical engineering summer intern. She went from being an intern 548 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty all the way to becoming president of 549 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 1: the company in two thousand and seven. Now, that is 550 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:48,200 Speaker 1: a Xerox story that was more in line with the 551 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,760 Speaker 1: corporate culture horizon. The company was was very much in 552 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:58,080 Speaker 1: line with those traditional values, and people are often promoted 553 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: within the company at Xerox as opposed to being brought 554 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,680 Speaker 1: in from outside. And we'll talk a lot more about 555 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:07,560 Speaker 1: what Ursula and Burns did in her tenure as president 556 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:10,239 Speaker 1: and later CEO of Xerox, But before we do that, 557 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:20,440 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. In 558 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,200 Speaker 1: two thousand eight, just four years after they changed up 559 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,480 Speaker 1: the corporate signature, Xerox decided to do it again. This 560 00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: new version was still all in red, it was still 561 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:31,200 Speaker 1: the name Xerox, but now it was on lower case 562 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: instead of upper case, and they also included a new image, 563 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 1: a spherical red symbol with lines forming an X on it. More. 564 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:41,840 Speaker 1: Kay lead the company until two thousand nine, and that's 565 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: when Ursula Burns would step in as CEO. She became 566 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:48,239 Speaker 1: the first African American woman to lead a company the 567 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 1: scale of Xerox. That same year, Xerox announced its intent 568 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:57,560 Speaker 1: to acquire a company called Affiliated Computer Services. So that's 569 00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:00,479 Speaker 1: two thousand nine. Keep that in mind. This deal was 570 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 1: massive is about six point four billion dollars in both 571 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: cash and stocks. The acquisition became official in February two 572 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,120 Speaker 1: thou ten, and Zerox would later sell off part of 573 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:15,080 Speaker 1: Affiliate Computer Services, namely the i T outsourcing business to 574 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:19,560 Speaker 1: a toss for more than one billion dollars, but they 575 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 1: held on to the rest of it, so they split 576 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 1: off like a division of this company they acquired and 577 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:27,839 Speaker 1: sold it off because it was not it was not 578 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,279 Speaker 1: progressing as quickly as some of the other business units, 579 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:34,440 Speaker 1: and they didn't want to divide their attention too much. Now, 580 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:36,600 Speaker 1: the following years were pretty tough ones for the company. 581 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:41,440 Speaker 1: In January, Xerox issued a press release announcing that the 582 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:45,360 Speaker 1: company would split into two entities. Now this was largely 583 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 1: because Carl Icon, one of the major investors in Xerox, 584 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:53,680 Speaker 1: had been urging Xerox to split into two publicly traded companies. 585 00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:57,520 Speaker 1: One would become the document management business and would retain 586 00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:01,840 Speaker 1: the name Xerox. The second business, which focused on business 587 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,680 Speaker 1: services and was mostly the businesses Xerox acquired when it 588 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:09,480 Speaker 1: bought Affiliated Computer Services back in two thousand nine, became 589 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:14,360 Speaker 1: known as Conduit Ursula Burns would step down as CEO 590 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:18,040 Speaker 1: after the split happened, although she remained chairman of Xerox. 591 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,880 Speaker 1: Jeff Jacobson would join Xerox to become the new CEO, 592 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,520 Speaker 1: or rather he would become the new CEO. He was 593 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,799 Speaker 1: already part of Xerox. He was a former lawyer who 594 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,279 Speaker 1: joined Xerox in at the officer level, so it's not 595 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 1: like he worked his way up from the lowest levels 596 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:37,680 Speaker 1: to executive. He came in as an officer. He became 597 00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:41,080 Speaker 1: the chief operating officer of Xerox Technology in fourteen, so 598 00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: just two years after joining the company, and then two 599 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:47,520 Speaker 1: years after that he became the CEO. Xerox is still 600 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:51,240 Speaker 1: very much in business. In the company announced a massive 601 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,319 Speaker 1: production launch of twenty nine new products, the biggest in 602 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:58,000 Speaker 1: its history. The company has focused more on network document management, 603 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,040 Speaker 1: including solutions that allow you to send print jobs for 604 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: mobile devices and massive documents centers. Also, I should point 605 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,759 Speaker 1: out that there's still a lot of uncertainty about what's 606 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:11,880 Speaker 1: going to happen with Xerox over the next few months. 607 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,759 Speaker 1: There's some worry that there will be a lot of 608 00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:18,560 Speaker 1: cost cutting measures, which often result in people losing their jobs. 609 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:22,319 Speaker 1: Their entire towns that are really worried about what could 610 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:25,520 Speaker 1: happen in the future because Xerox is the major employer 611 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:29,239 Speaker 1: at those those towns, and some cases you're talking about 612 00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: people who are now working for a totally different company 613 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:36,480 Speaker 1: in Conduit. So there's a lot of uncertainty at the 614 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 1: time being. And before I conclude this series about Xerox, 615 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:42,880 Speaker 1: I need to talk a little bit about this idea 616 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:46,960 Speaker 1: of generic sized trademarks. So a trademark is a type 617 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: of design, like a logo or a representation of a 618 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,399 Speaker 1: provider of goods and services that sets it apart from 619 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:56,520 Speaker 1: others in that same field. A trademark indicates that a 620 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,799 Speaker 1: particular product or asset belongs to a specific company that 621 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,680 Speaker 1: an official version of that asset. It means consumers know 622 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 1: from whom their products originated. You can license trademarks to 623 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 1: others if you want to. And let's say, for example, 624 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:14,440 Speaker 1: you create a popular character on a television showing to children. 625 00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:18,320 Speaker 1: It's a puppet of some sort, and you've trademarked the 626 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,879 Speaker 1: image of that puppet. That puppet represents your work. You've 627 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:24,160 Speaker 1: trademarkedt so other people can't just go out and make 628 00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:28,239 Speaker 1: a copy of it, at least not without becoming um 629 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,440 Speaker 1: liable for a terrible lawsuit. And you might have a 630 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,480 Speaker 1: toy manufacturing company being down your door to partner with 631 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:39,760 Speaker 1: you in order to produce toy versions of this trademarked character. 632 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,840 Speaker 1: You could choose the license the trademark character designed to 633 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,320 Speaker 1: that company and produce tons of toys and make wheelbarrows 634 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:50,759 Speaker 1: full of money. Lots of companies do this, But one 635 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,640 Speaker 1: thing that you have to do with a trademark is defended. 636 00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,440 Speaker 1: So if someone else starts selling toys of your beloved 637 00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,320 Speaker 1: character and you do nothing to stop them as and 638 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:03,040 Speaker 1: you don't sue the pants off of them, then your 639 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:06,279 Speaker 1: trademark is actually in danger. If a court finds that 640 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:09,320 Speaker 1: you had the opportunity to defend a trademark but you didn't, 641 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:11,560 Speaker 1: they might say, well, your trademarks not valid because you 642 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,400 Speaker 1: didn't actually defend it. So this is different from a copyright, 643 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:20,040 Speaker 1: which just stays there and you can sue anybody who 644 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:23,880 Speaker 1: infringes upon your copyright anytime during the duration of the 645 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:28,080 Speaker 1: copyrights legitimacy, which is a pretty long time in the 646 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,960 Speaker 1: United States thanks to companies like Disney. Trademark is a 647 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:35,680 Speaker 1: little different. You have to be very um aggressive in 648 00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:38,719 Speaker 1: defending your trademark. Again, if you look at Disney, you've 649 00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:42,440 Speaker 1: probably heard stories about the company telling, say, a school, 650 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:45,640 Speaker 1: that it had to take down a mural that had 651 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:49,840 Speaker 1: Disney characters on it because they were unlicensed versions of 652 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 1: those characters. And while you might say, well, where's the 653 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:55,319 Speaker 1: harm in a small school putting up a mural of 654 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:59,080 Speaker 1: Disney characters. From Disney's perspective, the harm is that if 655 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:02,800 Speaker 1: they do not go forward and try to prevent people 656 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:07,880 Speaker 1: from using their trademarked intellectual property without without permission, then 657 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:11,279 Speaker 1: they lose They may lose the trademark protection in the 658 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:14,280 Speaker 1: first place, so they tend to be a little overzealous 659 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:18,919 Speaker 1: in protecting in order to make sure that doesn't happen. Um, 660 00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:21,800 Speaker 1: if your trademark becomes invalid, you have no real legal 661 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,319 Speaker 1: protection to your expression and anyone can jump on it, 662 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,080 Speaker 1: potentially confusing the market. As a result, you could always 663 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:32,759 Speaker 1: try and take someone to court, but it depends on again, 664 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:35,920 Speaker 1: if you haven't been very good about defending your trademark, 665 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,920 Speaker 1: it's not It's not great news for you from the 666 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:43,360 Speaker 1: court's perspective. One thing you definitely do not want is 667 00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:47,000 Speaker 1: a genericized trademark. Now, that's a brand name that becomes 668 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,600 Speaker 1: so synonymous with a type of product or service that 669 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:53,440 Speaker 1: people just use it for any instance of that product 670 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:56,600 Speaker 1: or service, even if it came from another company's products, 671 00:39:57,040 --> 00:40:01,399 Speaker 1: which can obviously devalue the trademarked intellectu property. So if 672 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,600 Speaker 1: you were to say I'm gonna go xerox this document 673 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:08,520 Speaker 1: instead of I'm going to photocopy this document or scan 674 00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:12,279 Speaker 1: this document or whatever you're using xeroxes trademark name in 675 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:15,719 Speaker 1: a way that's more generic, and you might be using 676 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:18,279 Speaker 1: a copying machine that isn't even made by Xerox. For 677 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:19,920 Speaker 1: crying out loud, you could say, oh, I need to 678 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:23,960 Speaker 1: go xerox this, and you're using a canon copier. Xerox 679 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:28,040 Speaker 1: is actually run awareness campaigns asking people not to use 680 00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:31,440 Speaker 1: the word Xerox in this way. The company tried to 681 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,440 Speaker 1: appeal to the sympathy of the masses in these pieces, 682 00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:37,400 Speaker 1: which are a little funny to read something that was 683 00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:41,000 Speaker 1: not universally accepted as a serious message among all readers. 684 00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:43,200 Speaker 1: After all, I mean, what does the average person care 685 00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:46,440 Speaker 1: of a billion dollar company name becomes synonymous with the 686 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:49,960 Speaker 1: technology that at one time that same company had a 687 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:53,960 Speaker 1: monopoly over. Right, Once upon a time, you could probably 688 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:57,120 Speaker 1: call it xerox NG because Xerox was more or less 689 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:00,760 Speaker 1: the only game in town. And if there's no one competing, 690 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:03,040 Speaker 1: then there's not really much danger of the trademark being 691 00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:08,759 Speaker 1: infringed upon. Now, officially, Xerox is not a generic trademark. 692 00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:12,520 Speaker 1: It's not recognized as a generic trademark, unlike some other 693 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:17,520 Speaker 1: products like aspirin is a generic trademark. Now escalators, linoleum. 694 00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 1: All of those are generic trademarks, but Xerox is in 695 00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:23,760 Speaker 1: a class of protected trademarks that are still sometimes used 696 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:26,759 Speaker 1: in generic fashion. So a couple of other examples in 697 00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:30,839 Speaker 1: that category would be Kleenex or band aid. So these 698 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,080 Speaker 1: are all things that are technically protected trademarks, but people 699 00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:37,080 Speaker 1: use them pretty casually, whether or not they're talking about 700 00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:40,239 Speaker 1: the specific products or services, or they're just talking about 701 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:43,880 Speaker 1: something similar that, you know, out of convenience sake, we 702 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,319 Speaker 1: use a single brand name band Aid, I think is 703 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:48,600 Speaker 1: really a big one. Clean X too. Really, I mean, 704 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:51,200 Speaker 1: I don't know many people who say, hey, could you 705 00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:55,319 Speaker 1: pass me a facial tissue or I would very much 706 00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,360 Speaker 1: need an adhesive bandage to cover this gaping wound that 707 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:02,880 Speaker 1: has opened up on my hand. Ramsey. That's a hint. No, 708 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:05,200 Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. It's actually it's all right. I've I've 709 00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:07,520 Speaker 1: got a I got I got an alley on my thumb. 710 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:10,279 Speaker 1: But it's okay at the moment. Now, I don't I 711 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,440 Speaker 1: don't need a facial tissue for my alley, Ramsey. Ramsey 712 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:15,480 Speaker 1: is trying to be helpful, but he's handing me. Wait, 713 00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:18,319 Speaker 1: that's actually, that's actually puffs, So that's not clean x 714 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:21,960 Speaker 1: some sellotape Also Sellotape, by the way, also used to 715 00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:25,840 Speaker 1: be an actual brand name, but now as a generic 716 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:30,799 Speaker 1: sized trademark, as I recall. So I just wanted to 717 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,200 Speaker 1: take time to address that because it's one of those 718 00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:35,200 Speaker 1: things people often think about when they hear the term 719 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:37,279 Speaker 1: xerox or or any of those other ones I was 720 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:39,880 Speaker 1: talking about, like, is that actually a generic trademark at 721 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:43,640 Speaker 1: this point? Can anyone use it? Technically? No, you cannot 722 00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:47,120 Speaker 1: market anything as xerox unless you are the company Xerox. 723 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:51,040 Speaker 1: And while you might call something a Xerox, or you 724 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,239 Speaker 1: might refer to xerox seeing a document that is not 725 00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:59,200 Speaker 1: technically correct, and of course that's the most important type 726 00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:01,719 Speaker 1: of correct. We all live on the Internet. We know 727 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:05,839 Speaker 1: that to be technically correct means that you win. Well. 728 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,280 Speaker 1: That wraps up the story of Xerox so far, anyway, 729 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:13,400 Speaker 1: Like I said, pretty dramatic. You look at the humble 730 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:16,279 Speaker 1: beginnings of a tiny little company that was existing in 731 00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:20,000 Speaker 1: the shadow of Kodak, to the Xerox Park days where 732 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:22,959 Speaker 1: incredible R and D work was going on that would 733 00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:25,960 Speaker 1: shape our use of computers in the future. And yet 734 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:28,920 Speaker 1: the company was very much unable to capitalize on it, 735 00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:31,360 Speaker 1: all the way up to the modern day where the 736 00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:34,960 Speaker 1: company has recently split apart and people are still kind 737 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:37,520 Speaker 1: of wondering what's going to happen to it, And we'll 738 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:40,000 Speaker 1: keep our eyes on it. Maybe someday it will warrant 739 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:43,520 Speaker 1: a part four, a kind of a catching up on 740 00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:46,920 Speaker 1: what has happened so far. But until that day, we're 741 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:49,319 Speaker 1: going to put this one to bed. Guys, if you 742 00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,359 Speaker 1: have any suggestions for future episodes of Tech Stuff, maybe 743 00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:54,520 Speaker 1: there's a topic you've always wanted to know more about, 744 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,319 Speaker 1: whether it's a company or a person or a technology. 745 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:01,040 Speaker 1: Maybe there's someone you think I should interview, or you 746 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:03,000 Speaker 1: have an idea of someone that you really want to 747 00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:05,280 Speaker 1: have on as a guest host. I know that I'm 748 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:08,719 Speaker 1: going to get Scott Benjamin in here pretty soon to 749 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:10,839 Speaker 1: be a guest host on an episode of Tech Stuff. 750 00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:16,440 Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about some personal submarines. That's the plan anyway, 751 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:18,760 Speaker 1: So we're gonna chat about that in a future episode 752 00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:20,880 Speaker 1: not too long from now. But if there's anyone else 753 00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:22,480 Speaker 1: that you think, hey, you need to get so and 754 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:25,360 Speaker 1: so in there, let me know, send me a message. 755 00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:28,520 Speaker 1: The email addresses tech stuff at how stuff works dot com, 756 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:30,560 Speaker 1: or you can drop me a line on Twitter or 757 00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:33,680 Speaker 1: Facebook handle it. Both of those is tech Stuff h 758 00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,800 Speaker 1: s W. And remember you can always watch me record 759 00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:41,040 Speaker 1: these shows live at twitch dot tv slash tech stuff. 760 00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:43,760 Speaker 1: I record on Wednesdays and Fridays. Just go to twitch 761 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:46,080 Speaker 1: dot tv slash tech stuff. You'll see the schedule there. 762 00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:48,520 Speaker 1: You can join in, be part of the chat room, 763 00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:53,680 Speaker 1: watch me as I brilliantly make my way through my 764 00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:59,640 Speaker 1: notes or sometimes stumble over my own words to hilarious effect, 765 00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:02,840 Speaker 1: and you get to experience all of that before Ramsey 766 00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:05,160 Speaker 1: goes in and does his magic and removes all the 767 00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:08,239 Speaker 1: goof um ups and keeps all the good stuff, so 768 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:11,680 Speaker 1: you get to see the whole thing. I hope to 769 00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:13,760 Speaker 1: see you guys there, and I'll talk to you again 770 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:23,160 Speaker 1: really soon. YEA for more on this and thousands of 771 00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:35,200 Speaker 1: other topics, is a housetop works dot com