Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Happy 25th, Macintosh!

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the fanbois-of-the-world-unite dept.

bradgoodman writes to tell us that tomorrow will mark the 25th anniversary of the first Macintosh, debuting just 2 days after the famous Super Bowl XVIII commercial. "'The Macintosh demonstrated that it was possible and profitable to create a machine to be used by millions and millions of people,' said Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, research director for the Institute for the Future, a Palo Alto, California, think tank, and chief force behind 'Making the Macintosh: Technology and Culture in Silicon Valley,' an online historical exhibit. 'The gold standard now for personal electronics is, "Is it easy enough for my grandmother to use it?" People on the Macintosh project were the first people to talk about a product in that way.'"

6 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. I remember it well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It was the last day I showered or left the basement.

  2. Computer with a mouse AT HOME?! by Tom+Arneberg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I got one of the first Macs. It wasn't my first computer with a mouse; we had those at work for chip design. But those cost over $100K each. My fellow engineers couldn't believe that I got a computer at home with a mouse and windows/menus for only $2500!

    It even made it into our family Christmas card photo that year:


    http://arneberg.com/family/xmas/xmas1984.jpg

    (This is my first-ever slashdot post...how do I get a web link to work?)
       

    1. Re:Computer with a mouse AT HOME?! by funky49 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sir,

      You are so awesome and I'm so glad the mother of your child was willing to go along with the picture.

      --
      --- rapper/producer/bachelorette party stripper
  3. Re:Not my Grandmother by dingen · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Why should your grandmother care? If she wants to surf the web, she clicks on Safari in the dock. If it's already running, she'll get a window to browse the web with. If it's not running, it will load and she'll get a window to browse the web with.

    Keeping track of which applications are currently running is something for techies who are concerned with memory usage and such because they actually know how their computer works. Your grandmother doesn't so neither does she needs to know the difference between closing a window and closing an application.

    --
    Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
  4. Re:Apple is dying by ogdenk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Heh. They've been dying since 1977 according to most industry analysts.

  5. Re:Memory Lane... by dangitman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't it funny... the more powerful computers get, the things we do with them get lamer and more trivial. 1984 - testing and developing scientific theories on a machine with 128K RAM; 2009 - posting on slashdot with 4GB RAM.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.