The Macintosh, or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers, manufactured by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced on January 24, 1984, by Steve Jobs and it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature two known, but still unpopular features—the mouse and the graphical user interface, rather than the command-line interface of its predecessors. Production of the Mac is based on a vertical integration model in that Apple facilitates all aspects of its hardware and creates its own operating system (called System Software, later renamed to Mac OS, see the lower image) that is pre-installed on all Mac computers. This is in contrast to most IBM PC compatibles, where multiple sellers create hardware intended to run another company’s operating software. Apple exclusively produces Mac hardware, choosing internal systems, designs, and prices. Apple also develops the operating system for the Mac. The modern Mac, like other personal computers, is capable of running alternative operating systems such as Linux, FreeBSD, and, in the case of Intel-based Macs, Microsoft Windows. However, Apple does not license Mac OS X for use on non-Apple computers.
The Beginning of Macintosh Computers
Original Macintosh Specifications
The first Macintosh board, designed by Burrell Smith, had 64 kilobytes (KB) of RAM, used the Motorola 6809E microprocessor, and was capable of supporting a 256×256 pixel black-and-white bitmap display. Bud Tribble, a Macintosh programmer, was interested in running the Lisa’s graphical programs on the Macintosh, and asked Smith whether he could incorporate the Lisa’s Motorola 68000 microprocessor into the Mac while still keeping the production cost down. By December 1980, Smith had succeeded in designing a board that not only used the 68000, but bumped its speed from 5 to 8 megahertz (MHz); this board also had the capacity to support a 384×256 pixel display. Smith’s design used fewer RAM chips than the Lisa, which made production of the board significantly more cost-efficient. The final Mac design was self-contained and had the complete QuickDraw picture language and interpreter in 64 Kb of ROM and 128 KB of RAM. Though there were no memory slots, its RAM was expandable to 512 KB by means of soldering sixteen chip sockets to accept 256 Kb RAM chips in place of the factory-installed chips. The final product’s screen was a 9-inch, 512×342 pixel monochrome display, exceeding the prototypes.
The Macintosh Catches Steve Jobs’ Attention
The design caught the attention of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. Realizing that the Macintosh was more marketable than the Lisa, he began to focus his attention on the project. Raskin finally left the Macintosh project in 1981 over a personality conflict with Jobs, and the final Macintosh design is said to be closer to Jobs’ ideas than Raskin’s. After hearing of the pioneering GUI technology being developed at Xerox PARC, Jobs had negotiated a visit to see the Xerox Alto computer and Smalltalk development tools in exchange for Apple stock options. The Lisa and Macintosh user interfaces were partially influenced by technology seen at Xerox PARC and were combined with the Macintosh group’s own ideas. The Macintosh 128k (see the lower image) was announced to the press in October 1983 and was introduced in January 1984. It came bundled with two applications designed to show off its interface: MacWrite and MacPaint. Although the Mac garnered an immediate, enthusiastic following, some labeled it a mere “toy.” Because the machine was entirely designed around the GUI, existing text-mode and command-driven applications had to be redesigned and the programming code rewritten; this was a time consuming task that many software developers chose not to undertake, and resulted in an initial lack of software for the new system. In April 1984 Microsoft’s MultiPlan migrated over from MS-DOS, followed by Microsoft Word in January 1985. In 1985, Lotus Software introduced Lotus Jazz after the success of Lotus 1-2-3 for the IBM PC, although it was largely a flop. Apple introduced Macintosh Office the same year with the still-famous “lemmings” ad.
Apple Macintosh
Marketing the first Macintosh
For a special post-election edition of Newsweek in November 1984, Apple spent more than $2.5 million to buy all 39 of the advertising pages in the issue. Apple also ran a “Test Drive a Macintosh” promotion, in which potential buyers with a credit card could take home a Macintosh for 24 hours and return it to a dealer afterwards. While 200000 people participated, dealers disliked the promotion, the supply of computers was insufficient for demand, and many were returned in such a bad shape that they could no longer be sold. This marketing campaign caused CEO John Sculley to raise the price from $1995 to $2495. In 1985, the combination of the Mac, Apple’s LaserWriter printer, and Mac-specific software like Boston Software’s MacPublisher and Aldus PageMaker enabled users to design, preview, and print page layouts complete with text and graphics, it was an activity to become known as desktop publishing. Initially, desktop publishing was unique to the Macintosh, but eventually became available for IBM PC users as well. Later, applications such as Macromedia FreeHand, QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator strengthened the Mac’s position as a graphics computer and helped to expand the emerging desktop publishing market. The limitations of the first Mac soon became clear: it had very little memory, even compared with other personal computers in 1984, and could not be expanded easily; and it lacked a hard disk drive or the means to attach one easily. In October 1985, Apple increased the Mac’s memory to 512 KB, but it was inconvenient and difficult to expand the memory of a 128 KB Mac. In an attempt to improve connectivity, Apple released the Macintosh Plus on January 10, 1986 for $2600. It offered one megabyte of RAM, expandable to four, and a then-revolutionary SCSI parallel interface, allowing up to seven peripherals—such as hard drives and scanners—to be attached to the machine. Its floppy drive was increased to an 800 KB capacity. The Mac Plus was an immediate success and remained in production, unchanged, until October 15, 1990; on sale for just over four years and ten months, it was the longest-lived Macintosh in Apple’s history. At its introduction, the Macintosh was targeted for two primary markets: knowledge-workers and students. Referring to the telephone as the first desktop appliance, Steve Jobs hoped that the Macintosh would become the second desktop appliance. As Bill Gates stated, To create a new standard takes something that’s not just a little bit different. It takes something that’s really new, and captures people’s imaginations. Macintosh meets that standard. Through the second half of the 1980s, the company built market share only to see it dissipate in the 1990s as the personal computer market shifted towards IBM PC compatible machines running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows.
APPLE INTRODUCES MACINTOSH ADVANCED PERSONAL COMPUTER
CUPERTINO, Calif., January 24, 1984--Apple Computer today unveiled its much-anticipated Macintosh computer, a sophisticated, affordably priced personal computer designed for business people, professionals and students in a broad range of fields. Macintosh is available in all dealerships now. Based on the advanced, 32-bit architecture developed for Apple's Lisa computer, Macintosh combines extraordinary computing power with exceptional ease of use--in a unit that is smaller and lighter than most transportable computers. The suggested retail price for Macintosh is $2,495, which during the introductory period also includes a word-processing program and graphics package.
Macintosh, along with three powerful new Lisa 2 computers, forms the basis of the Apple 32 SuperMicro family of computers. All systems in the family run Macintosh software.
Like Apple's ground-breaking Lisa computer, Macintosh uses its built-in user-interface software and high-resolution display to simulate the actual desk-top working environment--complete with built-in notepads, file folders, a calculator and other office tools. Every Macintosh computer contains 64 kilobytes of read-only memory (ROM), built-in Lisa Technology and 128 kilobytes of random-access memory (RAM) that support these desk-top tools.
Users tell Macintosh what to do simply by moving a "mouse"--a small pointing device--to select among functions listed in menus and represented by pictorial symbols on the screen. Users are no longer forced to memorize the numerous and confusing keyboard commands of conventional computers. The result is radical ease of use and a significant reduction in learning time. In effect, the Macintosh is a desk-top appliance offering users increased utility and creativity with simplicity.
"We believe that Lisa Technology represents the future direction of all personal computers," said Steven P. Jobs, Chairman of the Board of Apple. "Macintosh makes this technology available for the first time to a broad audience--at a price and size unavailable from any other manufacturer. By virtue of the large amount of software written for them, the Apple II and the IBM PC became the personal-computer industry's first two standards. We expect Macintosh to become the third industry standard."
A wide range of software applications will be supplied by leading independent software companies. Currently, more than 100 companies are developing software and hardware peripheral devices for Macintosh. The popular Lotus 1-2-3 integrated business package will be available in a Macintosh version, and Microsoft's Multiplan financial-planning application is available immediately.
Two Macintosh application programs--one for word processing and one for graphics--also are available from Apple immediately and will be offered at no charge to anyone purchasing Macintosh during the first 100 days after introduction. These software packages will be followed by communications software, business productivity tools and programming languages that will allow Macintosh to gain access to data from large mainframe computers.
Twenty-four of the nation's leading universities, such as Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Yale, have joined forces with Apple to plan and implement personal-computer applications over the next few years. (See accompanying Apple University Consortium press release.) Under terms of the new Apple University Consortium, each member expects to purchase more than $2 million of Apple products (mostly Macintosh computers) over the next three years for use by faculty and students. Members of the consortium may share courseware (educational software) and application developments with one another in accordance with the agreement.
The prestigious accounting firm of Peat, Marwick Mitchell and Co. has ordered more than 2,000 Macintosh computers to be delivered in 1984.
Based on these commitments, Apple expects demand to exceed supply for several months.
Apple is manufacturing the new computers in a recently opened, highly automated factory in Fremont, California, which is capable of producing one system every 27 seconds and therefore meeting what is expected to be a large demand.
MACINTOSH SLASHES COMPUTER LEARNING TIME
Macintosh is aimed at a broad group of business people, professionals and college students. These people perform tasks that are similar in one important respect: they all involve working at a desk and transforming information and ideas into memos, reports, budgets, plans and analyses.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that while there are 25 million of these "knowledge workers" in the United States alone, only 5 percent currently use desk-top computers. Apple market research indicates that the majority are unable or unwilling to invest the 20 to 40 hours it takes to master conventional computers and the additional three to 10 hours' learning time required for each new application program.
Macintosh, by contrast, typically takes only a few hours to learn. Its operation mirrors the activities that are carried on by people at their desks. Papers can be shuffled on screen, documents revised or discarded, charts drawn--all with a few simple commands executed with the mouse. Several documents can be displayed on screen simultaneously, in "windows" that can be moved, expanded or shrunk. All applications, from financial-planning tools to graphics programs, are based on the same set of intuitive operations. This means that numbers, words and pictures can be easily .. cut" from memos, charts or graphs and "pasted" into other documents--even those created in separate application programs produced by different software companies.
"Macintosh easily fits on a desk, both in terms of its style of operation and its physical design," said Jobs. "It takes up about the same amount of desk space as a piece of paper. With Macintosh, the computer is an aid to spontaneity and originality, not an obstacle. It allows ideas and relationships to be viewed in new ways. Macintosh enhances not just productivity, but also creativity."
MACINTOSH SALES OUTLOOK
According to industry analyst Jean Yates, of Yates Ventures in Palo Alto, California, worldwide sales of Macintosh could total 350,000 units this year, with 70 percent of sales going to businesses, 20 percent to colleges and universities and 10 percent to home users. Many office users are expected to carry Macintosh computers home for work, and this is expected to fuel home sales as family members and others are exposed to the computer.
Aaron Goldberg, of International Data Corp., (IDC), in Santa Clara, California, said, "There's no doubt Apple has a winner with this product. The market has been waiting for this combination of technology, ease of operation and price."
SUPPORT FROM LEADING SOFTWARE VENDORS
Apple expects 90 percent of all Macintosh software to come from independent software vendors. Among the prominent companies working on Macintosh applications are Microsoft Corp., Lotus Development, and Software Publishing Corp. (See list attached to software-support press release.)
Apple is supporting these efforts by providing independent software vendors with Macintosh computers and comprehensive open-architecture programming documentation, classes and other development support from Apple representatives. Apple foresees at least 500 software packages available for Macintosh by the end of 1984, including productivity applications, communications packages, educational tools, specialized applications (such as accounting packages) and games.
Apple is currently providing two application programs for the Macintosh: MacWrite and MacPaint. MacWrite is a versatile word-processing program that features multiple fonts and font sizes, search-and-replace functions and the ability to cut text and pictures from other programs and paste them into memos or reports. MacPaint is a powerful illustration graphics program. Users can choose from an array of tools, such as brushes, pencils and erasers, and a large selection of textures and shapes to create an endless variety of free-form and structured images.
Programs to be released by Apple in 1984 include--for the first quarter--MacTerminal, which allows Macintosh to emulate DEC VT 100, VT 52, TTY and, with AppleLine, IBM 3277 and 3278 terminals for access to a variety of text) and is protected by a tough plastic case. Apple's new Lisa 2 series of computers also use the 3 1/2-inch disk drive, enabling the Lisas to run Macintosh programs.
Macintosh has two RS 232C/RS 422 serial ports for attaching a printer and peripheral communications devices such as a modem; another port for connecting an optional external disk drive; and an audio system that has a range of more than 12 octaves, is capable of producing polyphonic pitches and can replicate human speech. In addition, Apple is developing the AppleBus point-to-point interconnect system for all Apple computers, which will allow Macintosh computers to communicate with each other, peripheral devices and other Apple computers linked together. The hardware interface for AppleBus is built into every Macintosh and Lisa computer system.
PERIPHERALS AND ACCESSORIES
A number of Macintosh accessories and peripheral devices are available now: The Apple Imagewriter printer for high-quality text and graphics; an accountant-style numeric keypad; the Macintosh carrying case; a disk pack of ten 3 1/2-inch diskettes; and the Apple telephone modem, with data transmission rates of 1,200 or 300 baud. Another peripheral, AppleLine, allows Macintosh to emulate IBM 3277 and 3278 mainframe computers. An external disk drive and a security kit, which locks Macintosh and keyboard to a table or desk will be available in March 1984.
SALES AND SERVICE
Apple estimates that initially 85 percent of Macintosh sales will be made through retail channels, with direct sales making up the remainder. The Macintosh will be sold through Apple's 3,000 authorized dealers worldwide.
To aid in its sales support, Apple has initiated an "Own-a-Mac" program. This program offers incentive discounts to sales personnel to encourage their purchasing a Macintosh computer. In this way sales staff will fully understand product features and application programs.
Designed to be marketed internationally, Macintosh uses no English language in or on the machine. Icons depict the functions of the keys, controls, ports and servicing instructions. The Macintosh ROM contains no English code, making it easy for a translator to adapt the software for use in any language. This can be accomplished within a few hours. once the keyboard has been changed, any translator can create a "localized" version of the machine. The translator need not be familiar with programming. Localized versions of the Macintosh will be shipped to the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Italy and Australia within three months of introduction, and to other countries within a year.
Macintosh was designed from the start to be built in the millions to meet the anticipated high demand. To that end, Apple is manufacturing the product in a specially designed $20-million facility in Fremont, California. This highly automated factory can produce one system every 27 seconds. Under terms of a "zero-defect" agreement, Apple's component suppliers will test parts according to Apple's specifications before delivery to the Macintosh factory.
Service for Macintosh will be coordinated through Apple's conventional channels, which include Apple dealers and the more than 300 RCA service centers nationwide. Macintosh was designed for simple servicing: the system is composed of only four modules, each of which can be easily replaced in the event of failure.
PRICE
The basic Macintosh package will have a suggested retail price of $2,495 and will include the main unit, keyboard and a mouse. The package also comes with an accessory box that contains the system disk; "A Guided Tour of Macintosh," a learning disk and cassette tape; a blank disk; a power cord; an owner's manual; and a programmer's switch.
A host of peripherals and accessories will be available for the Macintosh computer from Apple and will have suggested retail prices as follows:
0 Comments