Earlier than there was the Mac, there was the Apple Lisa. It hit the market 40 years in the past this month at a whopping $10,000 (at present, that may be near $30K).

The Apple Lisa really got here with a tough drive (all of 5 megabytes — not gigabytes or terabytes, however megabytes). It additionally shipped with floppy disk drives, however slightly than utilizing the usual (on the time) 5-inch floppies, Apple created its personal fully distinctive 5-inch floppy format with a second data-read/write slot. That canine did not hunt both.

However there have been some improvements that may stand the check of time, as effectively. The UI was based mostly on the Xerox Parc Alto laptop and could be instantly recognizable by any Mac (and Home windows) person at present. It used a mouse. It had a menu bar and icons, however no little Apple glyph within the nook.

Additionally: Now you may obtain the Apple Lisa’s supply code

The Lisa additionally heralded the Apple person interface requirements documentation, which guided builders into constructing purposes that had been constant from developer to developer. The Lisa was revolutionary, hubristic, wildly overpriced, and aspirational.

It was an utter failure.

But it surely paved the way in which for the whole lot we have now at present, and in that method, it is price remembering. One different factor that is price remembering (or a minimum of discovering, if you have not seen it earlier than) is the Lisa advert Kevin Costner made again in 1982 or so.

At that time, Costner was barely recognized. His massive declare to fame was enjoying Frat Boy #3 in Night time Shift, which starred Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, and Shelly Lengthy.

Costner, in fact, went on to win two Oscars, three Golden Globe awards, a Primetime Emmy award… and 6 Razzies, together with one for my all-time favourite film, Waterworld.

In any case, with a shout out of due to my Web Press Guild colleague David Needle, who turned me onto this video of Kevin Costner earlier than he was Kevin Costner, I current this:

Do you know concerning the Apple Lisa? Had been you one of many only a few who ever used or developed for it? What’s your favourite Kevin Costner movie or TV present? Share beneath within the feedback. And sure, I favored The Postman, however it wasn’t practically nearly as good because the ebook.

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