More Firsts (A little more Mac History)
I actually like it that I'm still learning new anecdotal things about the Mac and Apple. I'm more technical than some but not as much as a lot of other people who like to get into the code and minute engineering of things -- so a lot of the real heady geek stuff can get overwhelming for me at times. But I like the stories, and there is so much drama to be had in the tech sector.
I was selling computers while the stuff mentioned below was happening and I guess I was just so much in the thick of it that I missed the milestones. At that time (mid to late 90s) Apple was getting a beating by peoples attitudes. Yet, even then they could still innovate, even though everyone discounted their strides as just something Apple was doing, with a sneer (till they quietly copying). Of course all that talk started to change when the iMac burst on the scene.
Anyway, here are some tidbits:
APPLE POWERBOOK 100, 1991: Never mind the Apple versus PC debate: Until Apple unveiled this 5.1-pound machine, most "portable" computers were curiosities for technophiles with superior upper-body strength. But the PowerBook 100's greatest and most lasting innovation was to move the keyboard toward the screen, leaving natural wrist rests up front, as well as providing an obvious place for a trackball. It seems like the natural layout now, but that's because the entire industry aped Apple within months. The first PowerBooks captured an astounding 40 percent of the market, but more important, they turned notebook computers into mainstream products and ushered in the era of mobile computing that we're still living in today.
APPLE POWERBOOK 500, 1994: "The PowerBook 500 wowed the notebook market with a long string of firsts: The first touch pad; the first stereo speakers (with 16-bit sound); the first expansion bay -- and the first PC Card slot; the first "intelligent" nickel metal hydride battery, with a processor that communicated battery status to the operating system; and, last but not least, the first curvaceous case, with gratuitously swooped edges and corners instead of the boxy angles of previous notebooks. Make no mistake, this notebook set the agenda for the following 10 years of portable computer design."
Got those quotes from here. It's a fun list about excellent gadgets through the past 50 or so years. If you're looking on that list for the Mac stuff, scroll down. They start at the bottom of the list, and the Apple stuff is near the top (as it should be -- although the credibility of the hierarchy of the list is a little strained when the Abacus, Sextant and the compound microscope fall below the Etch-A-Sketch, the Speak & Spell and the Fuzz Buster. Oh well, the history still holds).
I was selling computers while the stuff mentioned below was happening and I guess I was just so much in the thick of it that I missed the milestones. At that time (mid to late 90s) Apple was getting a beating by peoples attitudes. Yet, even then they could still innovate, even though everyone discounted their strides as just something Apple was doing, with a sneer (till they quietly copying). Of course all that talk started to change when the iMac burst on the scene.
Anyway, here are some tidbits:
APPLE POWERBOOK 100, 1991: Never mind the Apple versus PC debate: Until Apple unveiled this 5.1-pound machine, most "portable" computers were curiosities for technophiles with superior upper-body strength. But the PowerBook 100's greatest and most lasting innovation was to move the keyboard toward the screen, leaving natural wrist rests up front, as well as providing an obvious place for a trackball. It seems like the natural layout now, but that's because the entire industry aped Apple within months. The first PowerBooks captured an astounding 40 percent of the market, but more important, they turned notebook computers into mainstream products and ushered in the era of mobile computing that we're still living in today.
APPLE POWERBOOK 500, 1994: "The PowerBook 500 wowed the notebook market with a long string of firsts: The first touch pad; the first stereo speakers (with 16-bit sound); the first expansion bay -- and the first PC Card slot; the first "intelligent" nickel metal hydride battery, with a processor that communicated battery status to the operating system; and, last but not least, the first curvaceous case, with gratuitously swooped edges and corners instead of the boxy angles of previous notebooks. Make no mistake, this notebook set the agenda for the following 10 years of portable computer design."
Got those quotes from here. It's a fun list about excellent gadgets through the past 50 or so years. If you're looking on that list for the Mac stuff, scroll down. They start at the bottom of the list, and the Apple stuff is near the top (as it should be -- although the credibility of the hierarchy of the list is a little strained when the Abacus, Sextant and the compound microscope fall below the Etch-A-Sketch, the Speak & Spell and the Fuzz Buster. Oh well, the history still holds).
posted by Will at 4:21 PM
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