IT visionary developed cut and paste, the term Wysiwyg and prototype iPhone
Larry Tesler’s early conviction that computers should be for everyone was a maverick vision in Silicon Valley in the early 1970s. Many there thought that the language of IT should remain an exclusive argot.
Working as a research scientist at Xerox, the soft-spoken New Yorker recalled meeting a sales rep who told him that he was struggling to sell word processors because they were ‘‘so unfriendly’’. From that moment Tesler dedicated himself to making computers ‘‘user-friendly’’, a phrase that he invented.
Tesler, who has died aged 74, believed passionately that configuring the different functions of computers in
‘‘modes’’ was holding back the
IT revolution because changing modes was complicated and time-consuming. His solution was to develop the first graphical user interface with ‘‘desktop metaphors’’ that would allow the user to morph seamlessly between functions.
One of the key operations of Tesler’s modeless computer was the ability to ‘‘cut’’, ‘‘copy’’ and ‘‘paste’’ text around a document. Working with other coders, he developed a function whereby text could be transferred within a document at the touch of a few buttons.
Among the hundreds of programmers he mentored over the years, some of whom are now tech billionaires, Tesler was one of the greatest ‘‘dudes’’ in Silicon Valley. Because he was amiable, generous, willing to share his ideas and interested in what others were doing, navigating around Tesler’s intellect was as smooth an experience as using a modern-day computer.
In 1973 he had started work on user interface concepts at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Parc), where he developed a modeless text editing system called Gypsy. The software was installed on the Xerox Alto computers provided to Ginn & Co, a publishing company based in Lexington, Massachusetts, that had requested the cut, copy and paste function.
Ultimately he felt frustrated working for a company that in his opinion still considered photocopiers its commercial priority. He had reservations when he first met Apple boss Steve Jobs in 1979, but recognised the vaulting ambition that would lead to breakthroughs in personal computing.
After moving to Apple in 1980, Tesler became a key player in the Lisa personal computing project (launched in 1983) and the original Macintosh, which appeared the next year. Here, he developed the Pascal graphical user interface, which included the cut, copy and paste tools with which we are familiar today. ‘‘I chose the keys Z, X, C, V,’’ he recalled. ‘‘I wanted them to have mnemonic value: X as a cross-out; V an inverted caret or proofreader’s arrowhead; C the first letter of copy and the Z [undo] tracing a reversal followed by a new path forward.’’
At Apple Tesler also helped to develop the handheld computer, known as the Newton personal digital assistant. The project would eventually be scrapped, but its technology would be recycled and adapted in the development of the iPhone.
He also set up studies demonstrating the need for a computer mouse to boost speed of use, and worked with the design firm Ideo to develop a concept device for Apple.
One of his favourite aphorisms was ‘‘what you see on screen should be what you get when you print it’’ – an idea that was later abbreviated in the industry as Wysiwyg. Lawrence Gordon Tesler was born in the Bronx, and attended Bronx High School of Science. He then studied computer science at Stanford University in California and carried out early work at the university’s artificial intelligence laboratory.
Tesler believed that progress would come more quickly if ideas were shared around the most brilliant minds in Silicon Valley. He left Apple in 1997 to develop his own tech startup called Stagecast, but it fell victim to the dotcom crash.
Tesler next joined a then relatively unknown company called Amazon, where he was put in charge of its ‘‘visibility group’’ to improve the customer experience. Here, his biggest obstacle was the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos. ‘‘Jeff’s view was, ‘Don’t make it too easy,’ ’’ one of Tesler’s former colleagues said. He ultimately persuaded Bezos to buy into the idea of smoothing the process of purchasing one product online to the touch of a few buttons. He also helped to develop Amazon’s famed – and controversial – data mining and market research tools.
Little is known of his private life except that his first marriage ended in divorce in the early 1970s. He is survived by a daughter from that marriage, and by his second wife, Colleen Barton, a geophysicist.
A self-proclaimed ‘‘tech feminist’’ who helped many women to develop their careers in the male-dominated world of Silicon Valley, Tesler was also modest, denying that he was the father of cut, copy and paste, but suggesting that he might be its grandfather. –
Tesler was modest, denying he was the father of cut, copy and paste, but suggesting he might be its grandfather.