Happy Birthday Macintosh

[paul_valaru]

linky

Jan. 24, 1984: Birth of the Cool (Computer, That Is)
By Tony Long Email 01.24.08 | 12:00 AM
The inner workings of the Macintosh 128K were displayed in Newsweek in 1984.
Image: Courtesy of The Mothership

1984: The first Apple Macintosh computer goes on sale.

The Macintosh 128K hit the market two days after it was announced to the world in the now-legendary commercial aired during Super Bowl XVIII.

If the spot, directed by Ridley Scott, was a minor masterpiece of commercial zeitgeist, the computer itself was a product of its time -- underpowered and not very easy to use. But it did represent a sea change, a paradigm shift, whichever late-20th century business cliché you care to use.

It was the first to feature a graphical user interface that could be called user-friendly and was the first, with the advent of the LaserWriter printer and Aldus PageMaker, to make desktop publishing a reality.

The Macintosh 128K (that was your RAM) screamed along at 8 MHz, featured two serial ports and could accommodate one 3.5-inch floppy disc. It ran the Mac OS 1.0, came with a 9-inch black-and-white monitor and sold for a cool $2,500 (the equivalent of $5,000 in today's dollars).

In a little under three months, Apple sold 50,000 of these babies, not exactly an avalanche.

Specs aside, what was really interesting was the palace intrigue swirling behind the scenes at the corporate mother ship in Cupertino, California. It would play a role in the development of the Macintosh.

Steve Jobs may be celebrated as a minor demigod now, but in the early '80s he was merely a callow co-founder of Apple. Knowing that a grown-up was needed to run the place, Jobs wooed and eventually won the services of John Sculley, then the president of Pepsi-Cola.

Sculley duly arrived but the honeymoon didn't last long. As Apple sales failed to match expectations, Jobs and Sculley fell out, and, as is the wont when two big egos lock antlers, the feuding began. Jobs, who was working on Apple's Lisa project, got dumped from that shortly after Sculley clocked in, so he moved over to the Macintosh. This turned out to be a good thing when Jobs brought Lisa's GUI with him.

He also began plotting to stick it to Sculley and regain the tiller at Apple.

But Sculley had the board of directors' confidence, and when he got wind of Jobs' intrigue he forced a vote on the issue. Jobs lost, then quit, and didn't return until 1996. By then, Sculley was road kill, an unpleasant memory for what had become a struggling company.

Jobs' return to the throne, of course, heralded Apple's resurrection and he's been up on top of Mt. Sinai pretty much ever since, handing down the tablets.

I remember using one of those in school, musta been grade 4

 

[Gonz]

We've come a long way, baby
Thin is in

That is the coolest thing I've seen in quite some time.

 

[Luis G]

We've come a long way, baby
Thin is in

That is the coolest thing I've seen in quite some time.

Right. I bet you wouldn't think like that when you need to use wired network or more commonly, read/write a CD/DVD.

And what about the slow ass 4200rpm 80GB HDD?

 

[Gonz]

Step one is usually the ugliest.

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

*eats a cupcake for her maccy*

 

[Inkara1]

Right. I bet you wouldn't think like that when you need to use wired network or more commonly, read/write a CD/DVD.

And what about the slow ass 4200rpm 80GB HDD?

I'm more concerned with trying to use that keyboard.

 

[BeardofPants]

BF has the thin keyboard for his comp @ work - works fine.

Luis: it's a step in the right direction, innit? At least they're making thinner, smaller comps.

 

[A.B.Normal]

BF has the thin keyboard for his comp @ work - works fine.

Luis: it's a step in the right direction, innit? At least they're making thinner, smaller comps.

And yet TVs are getting bigger ,150 inch plasma would rock(especially as a monitor)

 

[chcr]

And yet TVs are getting bigger ,150 inch plasma would rock(especially as a monitor)

*Has a PC hooked to his 42 inch LCD

Hey, it's in case I want to look up some fact while I'm watching TV!

 

[BeardofPants]

Portability. Hasn't been that many a time I"ve been trying to lug around our LCD display.

 

[Luis G]

Luis: it's a step in the right direction, innit? At least they're making thinner, smaller comps.

I like that no doubt, but not at the expense of functionality. I'd rather have a thicker and heavier laptop just to get rid of the need of carrying (or worst, using) an external lan and optical drive.

And yet TVs are getting bigger ,150 inch plasma would rock(especially as a monitor)

*Has a PC hooked to his 42 inch LCD

I have a projector, current setup is the equivalent of over 100in (1.8m wide)
However, I only use it to watch movies.

 

[greenfreak]

My hubby's employer bought him a really nice Mac laptop. He finally converted.

We were in the Apple store on Tuesday and looked at that Air. It's definitely not for everyone. There's no CD/DVD rom, only one USB port and a mini DVI port for an external monitor. Which of course, must be current or it's only got a VGA cable. It's not that powerful, as Luis mentioned either.

The keyboard is ok - not as wimpy as the Mac external keyboards, those really thin white ones.

But the controls are pretty cool. The touchpad allows you to go back a page on your browser without clicking, etc. And the more I learn about Macs from Rusty, the more I realize they are definitely a superior product. Especially for the agency Rusty works for - they're all programmers, graphic designers, etc.

 

[chcr]

My hubby's employer bought him a really nice Mac laptop. He finally converted.

We were in the Apple store on Tuesday and looked at that Air. It's definitely not for everyone. There's no CD/DVD rom, only one USB port and a mini DVI port for an external monitor. Which of course, must be current or it's only got a VGA cable. It's not that powerful, as Luis mentioned either.

The keyboard is ok - not as wimpy as the Mac external keyboards, those really thin white ones.

But the controls are pretty cool. The touchpad allows you to go back a page on your browser without clicking, etc. And the more I learn about Macs from Rusty, the more I realize they are definitely a superior product. Especially for the agency Rusty works for - they're all programmers, graphic designers, etc.

Oh yeah, re the update thread, bought Dara a Mac Mini for Christmas. It's our first one.

 

[Inkara1]

The Mac I use at work is pretty nice. Key to making it nice is using a PC mouse... two buttons and a scroll wheel. I can't live without the right button. Seriously, it makes laying out pages in Quark much faster.