Inventor of cut, copy and paste, Larry Tesler dies
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The Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley reportedly stated that Tesler "combined computer science training with a counterculture vision that computers should be for everyone".
The inventor of computer functions so simple and instrumental to our daily functions on our devices, i.e., Ctrl + X, Ctrl +C and Ctrl + V, has passed away. Larry Tesler, the unsung hero of the digital world, has made life easier for multitudes of people across the world.
He started working in Silicon Valley in the early 1960s during a time when computers were inaccessible to the vast majority of people. His innovations, which included the commands "cut", "copy" and "paste" made the personal computer simpler to learn and use.
One of the organisations which employed the late Mr Tesler paid tribute to him with a tweet, thanking him for cut/copy & paste, find & replace and many more of his revolutionary ideas which made workdays easier for people the world over.
The inventor of cut/copy & paste, find & replace, and more was former Xerox researcher Larry Tesler. Your workday is easier thanks to his revolutionary ideas. Larry passed away Monday, so please join us in celebrating him. Photo credit: Yahoo CC-By-2.0 https://t.co/MXijSIMgoA pic.twitter.com/kXfLFuOlon
— Xerox (@Xerox) February 19, 2020
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During his career, Tesler worked for several major tech firms, starting at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) before Steve Jobs poached him for Apple, where he spent 17 years and rose to the position of chief scientist.
He also worked for brief periods at Amazon and Yahoo and had set up an education start-up as well. His most famous innovation, the cut and paste command, was reportedly based on the old method of editing in which people would physically cut portions of printed text and glue them elsewhere.
His visionary concepts were incorporated in Apple's software on the Lisa computer in 1983, and the original Macintosh that was released the following year.
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One of his firmest beliefs revolved around computer systems using "modes", which allow users to switch between functions on software and apps but make computers both time-consuming and complicated. His website, his twitter handle and reportedly his car's license plate had the words "No Modes" on them.
The Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley reportedly stated that Tesler "combined computer science training with a counterculture vision that computers should be for everyone".