Thirty Years of Mac [video]

[josefresco]

More 30 like years of personal computing...just dub "Mac" for "PC" and it's wouldn't be inaccurate except for the smiley faces.

Just because these artists and engineers are talking about a Mac does not make their functions exclusive to the platform. Also, going back 30 years you have to endure some turd-Macs along the way (some brilliant ones too). Many jokes were had at the expense of our Mac brothers in the late mid to late 90's (even early 00's) about their platform of choice as we ran circles around them in gaming, graphics and pretty much any other benchmark besides money spent.

It's not the case now (switch to Intel changed that) but I would love to see a similar piece in praise of the PC. And no I don't mean just Windows, I'm talking about the generic term. Computers are awesome, let's not fall in love with a corporate brand and think it's fundamentally something different when it's not.

[aroman]

I think you missed the point. 30 years from today (January 24th, 1984) is celebrating the release of the original Macintosh, which was the first modern personal computer. Of course there have been "bad Apples" along the way — the Apple computer line sucked during much of the 90's, as you pointed out.

But the simple fact is that Apple's original Macintosh was the definitive introduction of modern personal computing to the general public. It's not an arbitrary "30 years of personal computing"... it's commemorating a watershed moment.

[jryle80]

Why do you need to be an ass? We celebrate computers every single day. Is it unreasonable to acknowledge a brand that many many professionals feel emotionally attached? Did you complain when we were celebrating VAX, Atari, Commodore, Walkman, PlayStation 2?

Mac brought to the mass many things we take for granted today -- graphical interface, mouse, all-in-one form factor, SSD, etc.

Once popular brands -- IBM, Compag, Gateway, DEC, Sun -- are gone. Mac is still here and going strong. Not remarkable at all?

[scelerat]

> switch to Intel changed that

The turnaround started with Mac OS X, in 2001. That's what really started turning heads. The intel macs five years later helped, but it really was the wow factor of having a great Mac- or Mac-like (considering Aqua was the most radical departure Apple had made from the System 6/7/8/9 UI lineage up until that point) interface on top of real Unix, with all of its tools. It put to bed all sorts of concerns with architecture, open source/free software, macho "real programmers" insecurities, etc.

[gaius]

It is certainly interesting to compare the full colour, hardware accelerated graphic, multitasking, large memory Amigas of the mid 80s with contemporary Macs... The future could have been very, very different (and arguably computing would be 5-10 years ahead of where it is now, as that was the lead Commodore had back then).

Or the Acorn Archimedes of the time, which was turning in floating point benchmarks 10x faster.

[hardtke]

I was 10 at the time and my father was a typewriter repairman. He purchased a Mac the first day it came out. To that point, the IBM PC had not affected the typewriter repair business because of the archaic document preparation programs then in use (similar to latex). When I hooked up the Mac and started typing a document, my father said "oh shit" and knew that his business was done. I then went to print the document, and the printer didn't work because the first batch of printer cables were defective. Nonetheless, 30 years ago today the office was transformed -- dedicated typists were no longer needed because people could prepare final copies of their own documents.

[sz4kerto]

That's all I can add to this short movie: http://m.cdn.blog.hu/ap/appleblog/image/doghouse-comic.png

(I am happy to be downvoted for the joke, so just keep going :) )

[coldtea]

As if shitting isn't important?

We can live without wind turbines and scuba diving, but shitting and having something to read on the crapper is essential.

[marban]

I haven't seen a sleeve or cover that addresses this very fact.

[kubiiii]

The only good reason to burn karma is for the lulz. (i upvoted).

[WoodenChair]

I'm surprised by all of the hate on this thread. This is clearly a tribute for the faithful... not the uninitiated. Sure, there's some level of marketing to it - but I think it was meant more as a piece of appreciation for current longtime users than it was meant as a switcher style campaign. A "keeper" campaign as opposed to a "switcher" campaign.

[eludwig]

I agree completely. I also think its a subtle(?) affirmation of Apple's commitment to the Mac and the Mac OS as a separate entity - separate from iOS, that is.

It is also really, really hard for those of you too young to have been there for the Mac's introduction/launch to understand just how amazing this piece of tech was in comparison with the popular alternatives at the time.

It was so unbelievably alien and so intimately familiar at the same time. I am a long time gadget/tech lover and there has been no single event that I remember with such vivid clarity.

Also, there is no single piece of tech that I have ever wanted to own so badly. I actually switched careers (design/illustration > programming) so that I could afford to buy one!

I think it's okay to have a moment like this for the faithful. Yes, it's a bit indulgent, but it will be over in a day or two.

[icebraining]

For people who don't know it yet:

"Folklore.org: Anecdotes about the development of Apple's original Macintosh, and the people who made it"

http://www.folklore.org/

I don't own a single Apple device, but I still find the stories fascinating. It makes me wish I could've worked with those engineers.

[pavlov]

There's always a new frontier.

Today there are new people somewhere trying to do something that seems difficult, maybe impossible, and certainly rather pointless to the outsiders looking at it from the comfort of the establishment's balcony.

I'm pretty sure it's easier to look for those people today than it was in 1980, when you still needed to be physically in the right place.

[thomseddon]

Not sure if it's just me but I find this video remarkably uninspiring. It just seems to lack real content?

Now I'm more than willing to accept that I'm not the exact target for this video, and that the subject matter of the following video makes it a slightly unfair comparison, but the contrast to the quality of the Steve Jobs tribute video is vast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y2WpieYRks

The latter video literally takes my breath away.

[vacri]

I burst out laughing at "truly worldwide democratisation of creativity". Yes, that expensive personal computer, intentionally aimed for most of its career at media and education in western markets. That was a bad bit of copy.

And, more the fault of my mind than the copy, but "a tool for exploring new fields [that I otherwise couldn't]" - the same could be said of a machete. :)

[gilgoomesh]

The video is relatively bland but its just a series of 30 (one for each year) endorsements by creative/engineering professionals.

I actually prefer the timeline view (of the same people):

https://www.apple.com/30-years/#timeline

[Shivetya]

well its all about people being creative and how the Mac helped them achieve it. Surprisingly, well maybe not, it never showed anyone using it for typical business work which pretty much sums up why Macs (OS X) never made it in the real business world.

[mambodog]

If you're interesting but perhaps never got the chance to use the original 1984 Mac OS, then you might want to check out this in-browser emulator port I put together:

http://jamesfriend.com.au/pce-js/

In some ways it's quite remarkable how little has changed.

[drivers99]

That version seems to be from 1991, when I first starting using Macs in school. Don't supposed you could put Think Pascal on it? :)

[javindo]

"Everyone is using this one system" - you're still not fooling anyone Apple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system...

[danabramov]

This is true for creative industries (which the video is all about). Most design studios, musicians, 3D artists, etc, use Macs.

[itafroma]

Here's the list of people and things featured:

- 1984, original Macintosh

- 1985, Jon Appleton, pioneer in electro-acoustical music and key figure in the development of the digital synthesizer

- 1986, April Greiman, seminal figure in the New Wave graphic design movement

- 1987, Theodore Gray, co-founder of Wolfram Research

- 1988, Ahn Sang-soo, pioneer in Korean typography

- 1989, John Knoll, co-inventor of Photoshop

- 1990, Craig Hickman, creator of Kid Pix

- 1991, John Maeda, artist and pioneer of motion graphics

- 1992, David Carson, graphic designer and art director of Ray Gun magazine

- 1993, Robyn and Rand Miller, creators of Myst

- 1994, Hans Zimmer, composer

- 1995, Dave McKean, comic book artist and filmmaker

- 1996, Tinker Hatfield, Nike shoe designer

- 1997, Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe, creators of Wired magazine

- 1998, Alex Townsend, creator of the Computer Bus that helped bring computer access to Manx schools

- 1999, Moby, electronica artist

- 2000, Nick Knight, prolific fashion photographer

- 2001, Takagi Masakatsu, musician and filmmaker

- 2002, John Stanmeyer, photographer for TIME and National Geographic magazines

- 2003, Philip Jackson, founder of Sportstec that makes sports analysis software

- 2004, Noemi Trainor, principal of Mexico's Varmond School which is spearheading a digital-first educational program

- 2005, Jürgen Mayer H., architect

- 2006, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, co-creators of the Radiolab podcast

- 2007, Nicholas Felton, prolific graphic designer known for his "Feltron Annual Reports[1]" and supposed progenitor of Facebook's timeline

- 2008, Es Devlin, prolific costume designer

- 2009, Dr. Pardis Sabeti, pioneer in genetics research and bioinformatics

- 2010, Dr. Maki Sugimoto, surgeon who uses 3D printing to model patients organs to help prepare for surgery

- 2011, Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski, co-founders of Codecademy

- 2012, Daito Manabe, artist who specializes in electronic and holographic installations

- 2013, Éric Fournier, Sakchin Bessette, and Dominic Audet, co-founders of Moment Factory

- 2014, the new Mac Pro

[1]: http://feltron.com

[WoodenChair]

When I was a little kid we had a Mac II and a Mac LC. I spent so many hours with them... The software I used and the machines themselves inspired so many interests. The computers themselves eventually became a life long passion.

I've heard of Commodore users having that affinity for C64s and Amiga owners and a few other manufacturers... I've never heard a person say they fell so in love with their Compaq Q2150... There's something special about the Macintosh. I think it's that it's so clear that the manufacturers really cared about the user experience that they inspired the same in the software developers for the platform.

[AlexanderDhoore]

Forty Years of Unix!

I love writing in C and compiling on OS X, Linux and FreeBSD with the same Makefile!

[csmithuk]

Actually 45 years...

[stinos]

You should try CMake

[Void_]

Art, art, art... Why can't they show programmers in an ad for once? Apple you can come film me at any time.

[christiangenco]

INT. VOID_'S ROOM - DAY

CLOSEUP OF FINGERS TYPING

VOID_0 I love Macs because they have the unix core, so you can compile anything written for linux servers natively without using a virtual machine.

CLOSEUP OF CODE BEING TYPED

CLOSEUP OF TERMINAL COMPILING CODE

VOID_0 So yeah, that's pretty neat I guess. I mean it's not that flashy or anything, I'm really just using it as a fancy text editor. The build quality of these things is pretty good. All my friends are doing the same thing on cheaper linux computers, but I don't like those as much.

[itafroma]

The first 20 seconds of the ad features John Maeda, who is a programmer, and there are a number of other programmers featured in the ad and on the timeline: Theodore Gray, John Knoll, Craig Hickman, Rand Miller, Philip Jackson, Nicholas Felton, Dr. Maki Sugimoto, Ryan Bubinski, and Daito Manabe.

[sandis]

They've done it twice with their "one app at a time" videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOUfzyAEQHk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGtP6ZQ6Lt8

[tambourine_man]

Beautiful site, nice memories and all, but I find this a bit worrisome.

The Mac's 25th anniversary went by rather unremarkably under Steve's management, if I remember correctly. He famously gave the Apple's museum to Stanford as soon as he returned.

A company as old (for this industry) and successful as Apple must always look relentlessly to the future in order not to fall too much in love with its own accomplishments to prevent it from reinventing itself.

[valleyer]

I'm pretty sure one day of celebration every ten years is relatively OK.

[scotth]

It's just marketing fluff. Don't worry about it.

[KaoruAoiShiho]

Oh god the surgeon with the scalpel in one hand and the ipad in the other. Time for glass methinks.

[mynames]

"Download QuickTime to view this video". No thanks.

[anaran]

All they are trying to say is they don't want new customers.

Either you are inside their walled garden, or out (the better place for me).

[kabdib]

It's interesting (based on the poll "tell us about your first mac") that the Programming category essentially disappears in the early 90s.

This roughly corresponds to the decline and near extinction of the Mac. Having programmers leave your platform is a very, very bad thing.

[huxley]

Or you could read it as programmers being only subset of all people and computers were finally becoming mainstream enough that the ratio began to reflect that?

[mironathetin]

I started investigating java on my first personal Mac, which was a blueberry iBook. This was end of the 90s though. In my physics lab, we used Performas to develop our software. In physics labs, Macs never really disappeared.

Still, I liked the colorful Macs a lot. They cheered up daily work. A pity, that we are back to gray boxes.

[shootinputin]

How come people talk about 30 years of Mac but no one talks about 25+ years of Windows or Linux for that matter.

I saw numerous blog posts of parroting this advertisement, even in my morning daily commute news paper.

[tehwalrus]

Please add [video] or something to indicate autoplay to the title - I just blared out the music to my office! I normally put in headphones before clicking on videos...

[machbio]

The video captures the essence of what apples users intend to do, well almost.. Apple speaks of stories of creativity and flexibility - also mentions you never know "how users are gonna use this in the future".. So why the hell does apple play this game of closed autocrat and keep the creativity out of the hardware buffs who want to tamper with their macs.. I am happy with Linux :)

[zemanel]

Back in August 2010, coughed 80% of my cash on a 15" MBP when i started to freelance because a) had the cash at the moment b) wanted a reliable machine and a motivation boost for the rough times ahead, which i eventually upgraded to 8GB non-Apple memory and SSD disk (replacing Superdrive with the old HD).

It's Jan 2014, still my power horse and going rock solid, i'm quite happy.

[hackmiester]

Hey! Those floppy icons are from Mini vMac! This could be seen as Apple condoning the emulation of their products and software...

https://www.apple.com/v/30-years/a/images/1989/closeup.jpg

[DerekL]

And that picture is “Road to Point Reyes”, created in 1983 by the Lucasfilm division that eventually became Pixar. http://alvyray.com/Art/PtReyes.htm