We are Apple - a blast from the past
Though I have only been heavily into Mac for about 4 months now I actually have owned a Mac in the past. In late 1983 and early 1984 I worked at an authorized Apple computer store while preparing to drop out of junior college, selling PCs and Apple computers. I was as excited as anyone when the Mac came out and since I worked for an authorized reseller I was able to obtain a Mac at a heavily discounted price. As I recall I paid $2,300 for a 128K Mac and an ImageWriter dot matrix printer. That price also included a big padded carrying case for the Mac. There was little software available though because we were resellers Apple also included MacPaint and MacWrite. With little to do I amused myself endlessly by grabbing my past coursework from school and creating reports that I could have turned in had I had the Mac when I was still in college. The game changer was just a tad late for my academic career. I ended up getting rid of the Mac a short while later when I landed my first gig writing DOS based applications, then spent the next 24 years in the world of DOS and Windows.
I tell you this little story to set up the video I found yesterday while looking for coverage of the Apple WWDC. Presented at the beginning of 1984 with the release of Mac, I watched this video and was taken back to the time of big hair, alligator shirts with turned up collars and shameless rip offs of the Flashdance song. When you watch this video you will be hard pressed to connect it with the same company that now creates the slick video presentations we see today.
Put on your Way-Back glasses and check out this gem:
Of particular note is the point at marker 2:47 when the guy walks into the office building with a Lisa slung under his arm as though it's a portable.
To quote Irene Cara: What a feeling.
Comments
I still miss the feel of those keyboards.
You see, I could get that impression because the first time I watched it I had the sound off (I was at work). Well... "Not Safe For Ears" might be more like it. Just goes to show the power of music--even bad music--to influence our attitudes toward the things that are paired with it.
Beyond that, sometimes you have to see things in their context to appreciate them--putting things in the wrong context can make even good things seem bad much of the time. "Excruciating"? No, there's plenty worse, like, say, Smiths videos... :-P And yes, it's corporate material--I'm not sure today's corporate material is any better.
BTW, congratulations on your 100th Mac Blog entry!
Cheers!
---RASTER
I thought about making this another post but figured the comments are as good as any place:
Here is a video of an Apple shareholders meeting in the Fall of 1983. It starts off with a black screen and the music from the above video in it - you can hear people clapping to the rhythm in the background. It quickly cuts to a very young looking Steve Jobs bobbing his head to the music before he presents an introduction of the original Macintosh.
Great watch if you are at all interested in Apple history.
How about it folks? Found an interesting old-school Apple video that brings back memories?
I complain about how my MacBook Pro is big sometimes... just imagine lugging that huge computer on the video :O
http://video.google.com/videop...239
Let's add about 10 years to the time line (1992), and peek at something Sun put together.
I think a lot of this video, as cheesy as it is, is actually relevant to where computer science is heading today.
I would love to have all of the technology that is presented here.
This video is available on YouTube in several versions and in multiple sections, but the link below is to a site with full digital quality in MPEG4 format. It's big (274MB) but worth the wait.
Sun Starfire
Enjoy?
Cheers!
---RASTER
The video was for in-company consumption.
There are others. Hurt your eyes with these found on an old VHS tape...
I loved that thing and am really sad we got rid of it back in the day. I too have not been back to Apple ever since apart from the odd Ipod and am just about to get a MBP, It's like welcoming back an old friend!