First Generation of Macintosh
Computerworld recent article called "In the beginning: The making of the Mac" listed quite concise information how Apple Macintosh derived.
It was designed for the "person in the street", the Mac was from the beginning aimed at being simple to use without complications such as expansion slots or cables. This consideration meant that users wouldn't need to worry about opening the computer for any reason.
The idea inspired the Mac's all-in-one look (and lack of expandability). Even the "person in the street" idea ended up informing the Mac's eventual tagline as "the computer for the rest of us"
I could claim that I was among the first Thai who saw Macintosh when I was barely 10 years old, at the "Ed Center" where I went there to learn how to write the very first BASIC programming. It was fun, and kept me busy for sometime on Apple II. And later on the founder of the place took me to another separate compound within that institution, I met the first generation of Macintosh.
It didn't take long before I could see its potential, and the video clip attached here is very much the same to first impression I saw it, on different was that, I did it HANDS-ON!!! It was innovation and I wanted one, but... the problem was that, it was sold in the US at US$2,495 much far from budget for average kids' toys in Thailand that time.
Some quote from the same article from computerworld say something very true again...
When Steve Jobs unveiled the Mac on January on January 24th, 1984, it was something the likes of which the world had never seen. The new computer featured a bright graphical display and all-in-one design, relied on a mouse for input, and even offered speech synthesis capabilities. It garnered praise from both computer and mainstream publications, though some criticised the monochrome display, lack of expandability and incompatibility with existing software.
Over the past 25 years, the Mac has grown and changed significantly. The original model has given way to hundreds of updated models over the years. The processor family on which Macintosh is based has gone through two major changes. Apple has even successfully managed to change the core of the Macintosh operating system in the release of Mac OS X. (soon to launch, Snow Leopard)
And yet the Mac remains true to its beginnings, an icon of how simple a computer can be and how much it could do!
