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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=1758
Flashback: The Orignal 1984 Macintosh Release
By Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac
March 2nd 2003
Back to the dawn of time.
Just on 19 years ago, Steve Jobs introduced the computer that revolutionized the face
desktop of desktop computing - literally - the 'happy Mac' said 'Hello'.
A NewsWeek story provides a fascinating look back at the original Mac 128 release,
with a link to a contemporary NewsWeek article. The Mac's design team, including
Burrell Smith and Andy Hertzfeld are all there. Looming is the spectre of John
Sculley, now no more than a footnote in the annals of PC history.
Some interesting prophecies emerge from the depths of 1984. "�We think it will
revolutionize higher education," says the vice-principal of Drexel University. True.
Apple's plans for the future are revealed, but prove hugely optimistic. For instance:
"The company is readying a $1,000, seven-pound portable for this spring". Yes, the Mac
Portable did come. But it was in 1990, and it cost $6,000. The weight? More like 16
pounds.
Naturally, the 'official' PR at the time credits Jobs with much of the innovation,
vision and team leadership. The reality was he was handed what was though to be a
dead-end project, to keep him out of the hair of the 'real' business at Apple: the
bread-and-butter Apple II, really Woz's division more than anyone else's. Jobs'
earlier Apple III had been an unmitigated disaster.
Burrell Smith gets a lot of ink, and he's nowhere more right than in this quotation:
�I want to build the computer of the �90s. Only I want to do it tomorrow.�
Ironically, the Mac 128K was only a moderate success, and the Mac division was
effectively subsidized by Apple II sales. The Mac 512K made buyers take Macintosh more
seriously, but it was the Plus, with a full megabyte of RAM (and room for 4) that
suddenly made the Mac a business computer. Add the LaserWriter and Illustrator, and
suddenly you were a desktop publisher.
Some things never change, though. Take this quotation from 1984:
�Mac deserves to be a success,� says Esther Dyson, president of Rosen Research. �As a
product, it�s the best thing around.� Analysts agree that individuals will love
Macintosh, but no one is certain whether that emotion will translate into success in
the larger business market."
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