Happy Birthday Macintosh
20 years ago today, Apple introduced Macintosh. And the world saw why 1984, wasn't going to be like 1984. Or so the commercial said. Apple hyped the release of the Macintosh via a Super Bowl ad that to this day still stands out as the best ever created. It was directed by Ridley Scott for gods sakes. But they were right.
The Macintosh was released under great praises and huges gasps. What the Macintosh did was bring the “desktop computer” to the every man. Instead of a complicated command line, text based interface, it had a GUI (Graphical User Interface) and a mouse for input. Yes, these did not exist until Apple gave them to the world*. Two things that are taken for granted every day. Its hard to think of computers without a mouse or interface elements like buttons, windows, or menus. This is the last revolution we have seen in the age of computers. Everything else has been evolutionary. This changed the world of computing.
At the time I was 5, not yet using computers. about 2 years later my Father sent me a computer. It wasn't a Macintosh, it was an Atari 520ST. Not a gaming console, but a full fledged computer. It hooked to my TV, had a mouse and a desktop. It had no hard drive and I had to load everything via a 3.5″ floppy. Remember those? Well needless to say this changed my life. I upgraded later to a 1040STE and then went on to using an IBM compatible PC using Windows. At this time, Apple was in a weird place, as their history will show you. I won't go into all of that, you can read that anywhere online.But they were going down fast, losing market share even faster. But in 1998, they introduced another stunning computer. The iMac. This got Apple back on task and pepped them to innovate even more and greater than they had in the last 10 years.
Around 2001 Mac Os X had been released and was steadily getting popular. Os X was their very ambitious new operating system. It was daring because it was completely brand new and different and very unsettling for the normal Mac user. Well I took one look at this and it was all I needed. I ditched my PC and got myself a PowerMac. My excitement for using the platform has yet to die down. I love my Mac. I love using my Mac. And I love what I can do with my Mac. Its something thats hard to explain. But I think it has something to do with this huge company called Apple that has this crazy idea of creating products with their customers in mind. Its hard to find anyone that does that these days. There's just something about knowing that you are being thought of with every bit of time Apple spends on making their products that makes you feel good. In an age of corporations working for stock holders and actual customers coming in second, Apple shows us who matters to them, and it materializes in their products.
I love my Mac. I love my operating system. And I love every application that I use. My Mac is a joy to use. That thought never came to mind when I was on the wintel platform. I liked using it, I had fun, I was just as much as a geek as I am now. But now, when I get on my computer to do something, I'm excited about the new things it will let me do.
Well happy birthday Macintosh. You're in a class by yourself.
RELATED LINKS
www.apple.com
Original Macintosh Commercial
Original article printed in 1984 about the Macintosh (Extremely Recommeded)
CNN celebrates the Macintosh
*yes yes, we all know that xerox created the gui and the mouse and ethernet in Palo Alto, but did they do anything with them? And if they had, would they had done it as elegantly as Apple? Ok then.