Personal Computers – Hardware Review – Apple Weighs in With Macintosh (1984) | Hacker News Reader

Personal Computers – Hardware Review – Apple Weighs in With Macintosh (1984)

nytimes.com

57 pointsbananacurve8 comments

>"The roughly 17-pound Macintosh comes in a square bushel-basket-size canvas tote bag with an oversized zipper. The preproduction version I saw did not sport the Apple-with-a-bite logo. The addition of this emblem could well turn the bag into a classic status symbol, and even if the computer stayed home, the bag would accompany people on the move, stuffed with picnic goodies or laundry.

It seems that their packaging was spot-on even then!

and reading this feels like trying to describe to a fish what walking is:

>"As to the mouse, it is part and parcel of the Mac revolution, and it will probably be the reason you either sign up for or turn your back on this machine. To a large extent, the Macintosh works with what has been termed a ''finder environment.''

YOU find either a word or an icon or pictogram on the screen representing what you want the computer to do, then slide the mouse on your desk to move the cursor into position over that screen object, then press the button on the mouse to activate that particular part of the program."

I remember my first encounter with a Macintosh.. it seemed so mystical and full of deep .. inner .. beauty .. compared to the machines I was used to (CP/M and hokey 8-bit boxen) at the time. The funky little mouse didn't really impress at first, but .. it seems I instantly forgot it, and it melted away. The fine dots .. the little 'bong' .. it was a real treat. It always seemed to have an air of dignified whimsy.

Encountering my first Mac is a memory I will never forget. I also remember being blown away by the crisp screen, the soft feel, and overall polish of the thing. What made the biggest impression on me however, was the interface. I could not stop moving, resizing, minimizing windows. Playing with the preferences and making my own patterns. It was like someone handed me a finely-crafted interactive journal, where I could personalize everything. Being able to explore the fonts and move icons around was astounding. It was a whole new experience. I went home that night, and with paper and pencil began to draw graphical UIs with windows, something I continued doing for many months, until I finally had access to a real Mac.

I remember being blown away by the almost print quality of the black and white display on the original Macintosh computers. My family was in printing, and I grew up with an appreciation of finely printed black ink on white paper. Seeing things move on such a crystal clear display, even if it was smaller than a piece of paper, seemed like the future. Even without color, I often preferred to mess around with my friend's Mac (even with the limited entertainment software collection available at the time) than with their other computers.

This was what struck me the most about it as well. Stuff on the screen looked typeset whereas there really wasn't a way to get that look on the PC. I wasn't then (and still am not :-) a 'typography' person, but I could see the difference. For folks where this was important, that sold them on the Mac.

Interestingly this was also a selling point of the Xerox Dandelion series machines that were running Star. And while I believe, as do others, that Steve was influenced by his tour of PARC and seeing this, unlike him I didn't recognize it for what it was.

This pegged it:

> The fundamental difference between the Mac and other personal computers is that the Macintosh is visually oriented rather than word oriented.

That is the crux of what Apple brought to people with the Macintosh, why they love it, and why I wish it never existed.

It's not really visual vs. word it's recognize vs. memorize. If the mac had no icons but simply had text labels (which was pretty much Raskin's design) it would still have been revolutionary (modulo stolen from Xerox etc.)

Could you explain what you mean? What about the older systems do you prefer? Command shells, modes, on-screen text menus, key combinations, text-only or low-resolution displays?

But I'd really like to know why you think that it'd be better if Macintosh never existed. Do you think that people would actually be happier with the older ways, and they just don't realize it? Or that most people really are happier, but they should be miserable? Or do you wish that most people didn't use computers at all?

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