“After filming the first “Star Wars” movie with special effects far from special, George Lucas spent millions to develop a complete digital editing system to populate his sequels with armies of X-wing fighters and Gungan warriors.

Then, he virtually gave it away.

“We were 10 years ahead of the commercial reality,” said Bob Doris, co-general manager of Lucas’ computer division during the mid 1980s. “He inspired some very worthwhile ventures … but the innovations weren’t close to paying for themselves.”

So Lucas sold many of his technologies for cheap — technologies that would later appear in home stereos, cell phones, medical imaging devices and virtually every Hollywood studio, driving billion-dollar companies and employing thousands of people.”

[Continue reading "Star Wars" Spawned a Galaxy of Technologies]