APPLE SAGA 2:

MACINTOSH


I know I said I was going to talk about the iPhone, however I want you to know about the specialness of the Macintosh first.

We all owe homage to the Mac for two special aspects. All computers today would be difficult, unmanageable machines if it were not for two ingenious inventions.

Apple was started by two guys in a garage, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.

Jobs, a brilliant entrepreneur and marketer and Wozniak, a brilliant computer innovator, together began a company that was to change the computer world. The "Apple I" and "Apple II" evolved.

But in 1979, something brilliant was stirring under a skull and cross bones flag. A renegade band of Apple guys began working on an ingenious machine that was to change the living habits of the entire world. And in 1984, the "Macintosh" was born.

The little animated box had many innovations. But two things stand out, the GUI or "gooey" and the handheld input device or mouse. Both leading up to "wysiwyg" or "wissywig". Let me explain.

GUI stands for graphical user interface. Instead of words describing a circle for instance, an actual circle is drawn on the screen. And what is on the screen is what is actually printed out on paper! This seems curiously logical. But in the 80s, it was a revelation—no, a revolution.

And the mouse as an input device, first used on the Mac, has become a natural extension of our own arm.

Together these two innovations allow "wysiwyg"—what you see is what you get. Now the industry standard.

HOMAGE DESERVED INDEED!