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Steve Jobs\u00a0introduced the Macintosh in January 1984<\/a>\u00a0as a revolutionary tool designed to bring computing into everyday life. The salvation from a dark future in which IBM (\u00a0Big Blue<\/em><\/a>\u00a0) would control everything, like \u201cBig Brother\u201d in George Orwell\u2019s\u00a0novel 1984.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0This is the idea that inspired the iconic\u00a0advertisement directed by Ridley Scott<\/a>\u00a0for the commercial launch of the Mac: thanks to Apple, 1984 was not going to be like\u00a01984<\/em>\u00a0.<\/p>\n According to Jobs, the Macintosh was destined to be ”\u00a0the computer for the rest of us<\/a>\u00a0,” the third major milestone in personal computer history after the Apple II in 1977 and the IBM PC in 1981. However, initial sales of the Mac were modest, and it drew criticism for its lack of compatibility and high price.<\/p>\n The myth of its\u00a0commercial success<\/a>\u00a0is one of the legends that surround this technological icon. Four decades after its launch and although\u00a0its history<\/a>\u00a0has been widely documented, simplifications and incomplete accounts persist, often obscuring the role of certain visionaries without whose contribution the 1984 Macintosh would not have been what it was.<\/p>\n This anniversary is a unique opportunity to pay tribute to those who made it possible for computers, those complex tools operated by specialists in white coats, to become personal computers accessible to ordinary people.<\/p>\n The Macintosh did not emerge out of nowhere, nor did it represent a departure from the notion of personal computing. Rather, it was the result of decades of technological advancements led by companies and developers with brilliant ideas. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, long before the birth of\u00a0Apple Inc.<\/a>\u00a0, pioneers such as\u00a0Ivan Sutherland<\/a>\u00a0,\u00a0Douglas Engelbart<\/a>\u00a0,\u00a0Alan Kay<\/a>\u00a0, and others were coming up with concepts that would transform the way humans interact with computers.<\/p>\n In 1963, Ivan Sutherland developed the\u00a0Sketchpad<\/a>\u00a0, a system that allowed graphics to be manipulated directly on the screen using a stylus, which led to the development of computer-aided design applications.<\/p>\n Five years later, Engelbart presented the NLS (\u00a0oNLine System<\/a>\u00a0) in the legendary\u00a0\u201cmother of all demos<\/em> \u201d<\/a>\u00a0, introducing the mouse, overlay documents, hypertext and other technologies that would become the basis of modern interaction.<\/p>\n For his part, Alan Kay developed, also in the late 1960s and inspired by the Sketchpad and the oNLineSystem, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe\u00a0Dynabook<\/a>\u00a0, a tablet-type device described as \u201ca personal computer for children of all ages\u201d.<\/p>\n Although the Dynabook was never produced, the ideas of Alan Kay, known as the \u201cfather of the personal computer\u201d, were embodied in developments at\u00a0Xerox PARC<\/a>\u00a0, Xerox\u2019s research laboratory in Palo Alto, California. The Xerox Alto was born there in 1973, the first computer to fully implement the so-called \u201cdesktop metaphor\u201d, with icons, windows and menus that reproduced objects from the physical world on the computer screen, such as filing cabinets, folders and the trash can. Users could interact with these virtual elements in a similar way to how they did in the office: to delete a file, drag it to the trash can.<\/p>\n Although not commercially viable, the Xerox Alto profoundly influenced the design of many later systems, including the Macintosh.<\/p>\n One of the most persistent myths is that Apple invented the graphical user interface and debuted it on the Macintosh. However, this had already been implemented on the Xerox Alto and its successor, the\u00a0Xerox Star<\/a>\u00a0. In fact, Apple incorporated many of these ideas into its products following a famous visit by Steve Jobs and his team to Xerox PARC in 1979.<\/p>\n During that visit, Jobs was fascinated by the potential of the developments they were working on in relation to the graphical interface, icons, windows and the direct manipulation of these elements through the mouse. This marked a turning point in the development not only of the Macintosh, but of its predecessor, the\u00a0LISA<\/a>\u00a0, a project led by Steve Jobs that was a commercial failure and whose interface changed radically after that visit.<\/p>\n It would be unfair to say that Apple simply borrowed from Xerox. The Mac’s interface and software are inspired by Xerox developments that were further refined by\u00a0Bill Atkinson<\/a>\u00a0(nicknamed “Mr. User Interface”) and the work of the entire\u00a0Human Interface Group<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n Another common myth is that Apple invented the mouse, an essential input device on desktop computers. Anyone who watched the\u00a0presentation video for the first iPhone<\/a>\u00a0in 2007 will agree with this idea. In that presentation, Steve Jobs explains that they had previously introduced other revolutionary interfaces, saying verbatim that the first one was the mouse.<\/p>\n The truth is that it was Douglas Engelbart who invented it in 1961 (Apple Inc. was founded in 1976) and introduced it as part of the NLS in 1968. In the Xerox Alto, this device was refined for use with graphical interfaces. The Xerox mouse had three buttons, like most modern mice. The Apple mouse reduced the number of buttons to one.<\/p>\n Steve Jobs is the iconic figure we associate directly with the Macintosh, but attributing its invention to him is a mistake and an unfair simplification of the person who actually started the project.<\/p>\n In 1979, while Jobs was engaged in developing the LISA, Jef Raskin proposed starting a new project: a small, affordable, graphics-based computer with a user-centered design.\u00a0<\/span>Raskin named the project \u201cMacintosh<\/span><\/a>\u00a0,\u201d after his favorite variety of apple, the\u00a0<\/span>McIntosh<\/span><\/a>\u00a0.<\/span><\/p>\nA context of cumulative innovation<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The myth of the Mac as a pioneer of the graphical user interface<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The Mouse: From Engelbart to the Mac Desktop<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Steve Jobs: The \u201cFather of the Mac\u201d?<\/strong><\/h4>\n