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Inventors Of The Modern Computer
Apple MacIntosh
Apple Computers
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 "Hello,
I am Macintosh. Never trust a computer you cannot lift..... I'm glad to
be out of that bag" - talking MacIntosh Computer.
 In
December, 1983, Apple Computers ran its' famous "1984" MacIntosh television
commercial, on a small unknown station solely to make the commercial eligible
for awards during 1984. The commercial cost 1.5 million and only ran once
in 1983, but news and talk shows everywhere replayed it, making TV history.
The next month, Apple Computer ran the same ad during the NFL Super Bowl,
and millions of viewers saw their first glimpse of the MacIntosh computer.
The commercial was directed by Ridley Scott, and the Orwellian scene depicted
the IBM world being destroyed by a new machine, the "MacIntosh".
Could
we expect anything less from a company that was now being run by the former
president of Pepsi-Cola. Steve
Jobs, co-founder of Apple
Computers had been trying to hire Pepsi's John Sculley since early
1983. In April of that year he succeeded. But Steve and John discovered
that they did not get along and one of John Sculley's first actions as
CEO of Apple was to boot Steve Jobs off the Apple "Lisa"
project, the "Lisa" was the first consumer computer with a graphical user
interface or GUI. Jobs then switched over to managing the Apple "MacIntosh"
project begun by Jeff Raskin. Jobs was determined that the new "MacIntosh"
was going to have a graphical user interface, like the "Lisa" but at a
considerably lower cost.
Note;
The early Mac team members (1979) consisted of Jeff Raskin, Brian Howard,
Marc LeBrun, Burrell Smith. Joanna Hoffman and Bud Tribble. Others began
working working on the Mac at later dates.
| Specifications |
MacIntosh 128K |
| CPU: |
MC68000 |
| CPU speed: |
8 Mhz |
| FPU: |
None |
| RAM: |
128k Dram not expandable |
| ROM: |
64k |
| Serial Ports: |
2 |
| Floppy: |
1 3.5" 400k |
| Monitor: |
9" 512x384 square pixels built-in B/W |
| Power: |
60 Watts |
| Weight: |
16.5 lbs. |
| Dimensions: |
13.6" H x 9.6" W x 10.9" D |
| System Software: |
Mac OS 1.0 |
| Production: |
January 1984 to October 1985 |
| Cost: |
$2,495 |
Seventy-four
days after the introduction of the "Macintosh", 50,000 units had been sold,
not that strong a show. Apple refused to license the OS or the hardware,
the 128k memory was not enough and a single floppy was difficult to use.
The "MacIntosh" had "Lisa's" user friendly GUI, but initially missed
some of the more powerful features of the "Lisa" like multitasking and
the 1 MB of memory. Jobs compensated by making sure developers created
software for the new "MacIntosh", Jobs figured that software was
the way to win the consumer over.
In
1985, the "MacIntosh" computer line received a big sales boost with the
introduction of the LaserWriter printer and Aldus PageMaker, home desktop
publishing was now possible. But 1985 was also the year when the original
founders of Apple left the company.
Steve
Wozniak returned to college and Steve Jobs was fired, his difficulties
with John Sculley coming to a head. Jobs had decided, to regain control
of the company away from Sculley, he scheduled a business meeting in China
for Sculley and planned for a corporate take-over, when Sculley would be
absent. Information about Jobs' true motives, reached Sculley before the
China trip, he confronted Jobs and asked Apple's Board of Directors to
vote on the issue. Cveryone voted for Sculley and Jobs quit, in lieu of
being fired. Jobs later rejoined Apple in 1996 and has happily worked there
ever since. Sculley was eventually replaced as CEO of Apple.
And
then, there was "Windows".
 Further
Reading
Apple Computers
1984 MacIntosh Commercial - MacIntosh History - Apple History &
Timeline - MacIntosh 128K
all artwork ©MaryBellis
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