Xerox is trying to brighten its Star

Information Processing

Briefs

Business Week

October 17, 1983

Xerox Corp. is trying to light a fire under its Star terminal. Sales of the innovative 8010 professional work-station took off slowly in 1981, when the $15,000 unit was introduced, even though it pioneered the use of such features as the handheld "mouse" pointing device that has since been added to several products, including Apple Computer Inc.'s Lisa. Sales were slow because Star was not price-competitive and lacked applications software. Xerox has not cut prices, but it has introduced financial "spreadsheet" software that it hopes will boost sales. The spreadsheet program, which is similar to VisiCorp's popular VisiCalc software, utilizes the "mouse" and takes advantage of the Star's large screen so that 12 columns of data -- enough to show financial results for a full year -- can be displayed. Most personal computers can only show six or seven columns at one time. The spreadsheet will cost $300 and will be available in November.