[ck2]

We owe so much to xerox, did they ever make money off all that R&D ?

[GoofballJones]

They did from Apple. Despite the lore of Steve Jobs "stealing" everything from PARC, there was a deal in place before Xerox ever showed anyone.

[jackgavigan]

SRI, not Xerox, were the assignee on the original patent for the mouse: http://www.google.com/patents/US3541541

PS: "SRI licensed the computer mouse technology to Apple, Xerox, and other companies. The mouse became commercially viable in 1984, three years before the patent's expiration." - http://www.sri.com/work/timeline-innovation/timeline.php?tim...