Monday, February 2, 2009

Introducing the Macintosh (1984)


I fondly remember going with my friend Steve in mid eighties to go pick up his new Macintosh. We both had Apple IIe's and were excited to actually get our hands on this new kind of computer. Steve was (and is a musician) and was buying the Mac because of some of the music software available (maybe Finale.....I'll have to ask him next time we talk). I was excited, well, because even back then I was kind of geeky.

We unpacked it and had it up and running after installing many disks worth of software. One floppy at a time. I was blown away by the graphics. Amazed by the mouse. In love with the simple drawing program (MacPaint) that came with the machine. I left that day wondering how long it would take me to save up enough money to get a Mac.

It's hard for folks who weren't into computers back then or too young to understand what a shift in technology that machine represented. I realized the other day that all of my students have grown up with graphical interfaces. Then I realized how old I was getting to be. Then I had to rest from all the thinking.

Here is a YouTube video of Steve Jobs presenting that Mac 25 years ago.



Here is the famous Mac commercial that aired only once during Superbowl in 1984



[via Free Technology for Teachers]

[Image: Captured from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Macintosh_128k_transparency.png]

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