On Wed, 24 Jan 2024, Murray McCullough via cctalk wrote:
The Apple Mac, 40 years old, came from Xerox PARC’s GUI and Apple’s LISA.
Not sure that it really changed computing though! Financially it didn't
help Apple until after 1997 and Gate's investment.
Although they still needed help, the Mac kept the Apple3 and Lisa from
destroying the Apple company.
Bill Gates' bailout failed to make him a friend to the Apple fan-boys, who
hated him even more than the rest of us did. I never hated Bill Gates;
when he was still a MILLIONaire, he was kinda cool. We should all,
therefore do what we can to make him into a millionaire.
The Mac changed a few things. Although not necessarily exclusively, was
it the first computer Super Bowl ad?
The first computer ad to be ridiculed outside of computing circles;
Osborne's "the man on the left doesn't stand a chance" was ridiculed in
computer circles ("whose left? ours or theirs?, the guy with the Osborne
arrives without the file folders, uninformed of the news, and starving
because of no sandwich" (although the open space in the front of the
Osborne could hold a small sandwich).
Otrona's Charlie Chaplin look-alike struggling down stairs with a PC on a
card table was unknown outside of computing circles, at least until IBM
claimed trademark of Charlie chaplin's "little tramp" character.
But ridicule, such as Futurama's "Hey! We were watching that!" reached
all aspects of society.
The Mac, although still rather expensive, brought the Lisa's technology
within reach of others than executives showing off to other executives.
The Mac brought the mouse out of being obscure and esoteric, and brought
aspects of the content of The Mother Of All Demos into popularity to the
public.
It made many people, including some of us, realize that your computer
could cost half as much if you were willing to wield a screwdriver, and
install parts.
The Mac provided one of the very few alternatives to PC.
In august 1981. many of us said, "In a few years, all computers will be
IBM PC, or imitations thereof.", the Mac helped give the PC an image of
not being a monopoly. And it became "PC plus imitations thereof, and a
minority of Mac and all others." [Sorry, but few other than us
appreciated CP/M, or even Unix]
Android has brought a third player into the fray.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
