The 25th Anniversary of The Macintosh Computer
A major anniversary happened over the weekend which maybe you
missed.
25 years ago this past Saturday, the very first Apple Macintosh was
released.
Now if you're not a Mac fan, you may wonder why should you care?
Well, it was a major computer milestone that profoundly affected how
you use your computer -- even if you use Microsoft Windows.
You see, the Macintosh, when it debuted in 1984 after the still-famous
"1984" Superbowl commercial, was a revelation. And it changed the way
people used computers.
When you use a computer today, it's normal to see things like icons,
have a trash can or recycle bin icon you can throw files into, be able to
use a mouse to move files around and navigate the computer, and be
able to do everyday things like write a letter and be able to chose
different fonts (styles of print) on the screen and see something very
close to what you'll get when you print the letter out.
Not so before the Mac; since it was the computer that introduced all
of these things as standard parts of a computer. Amazing things at
the time, which seem commonplace today.
This all was possible thanks to something called a "graphical user
interface" or "GUI" (pronounced "gooey") which is a fancy way of
saying using the computer through menus, images, and icons, rather
than the old way of typing on a "command line" in a system that
often wasn't even *able* to show graphics (images). Just plain text
on a black background.
I remember vividly when I was about thirteen or fourteen, I saw my first
Mac. It was a completely different experience than any computer I'd used
before. I know many of you think of the computer as something that's
very hard to use and learn, but believe me, it's a cakewalk compared to
what it was like before the Mac.
No need to memorize a list of obscure commands and type them in on
a black screen with glowing green lines of text with no graphics. Instead,
you could just point the mouse at what you wanted to open, and double-
click it.
If you wanted to throw something away, you just dragged it into the
trash, and just like a real trash can, you could pull something back out
again if you still needed it. With the computers I used before, you had to
type in a command to delete a file, and once you hit the enter key, it was
pretty much gone for good.
I think the thing that most amazed me was using the word processor.
I had used one before, but with those older type of programs, everything
you typed looked the same -- you could chose from a few different fonts,
but you couldn't see what they looked like until you printed.
You could make things bold, or italic, but again, it all looked the same on
the screen, so you really had to use your imagination to guess at what
you'd get when you printed it out on one of those slow, old-fashioned and
very noisy "dot matrix" printers they had in those days.
It's hard to convey just how amazing this all was to me and other people
back then if you only started using computers after the early 1990s when
all of these things finally became mainstream when Windows started to
become the most used operating system.
Apparently back in the day, Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak (co-founders of
Apple) invited a young Bill Gates (co-founder of Microsoft) over to show
off their new Mac before it made its first public appearance.
He sat down, used a mouse for the first time and saw the future.
And promptly ran back to Microsoft to start a long-time habit of recycling
Apple's ideas.
Now to be fair, the mouse was invented in the 1960s, and Apple got
some of their core ideas about using the mouse & menus, etc. from
Xerox (who didn't seem to think anything much would come out of their
ideas). But Apple took those elements and transformed them into a
simple system that was *far* easier to learn and use than anything that
came before.
So even if you don't use one of Apple's Macs yourself, be thankful for
making the computer into what it is today.
Of course, while it's still much easier now than it was back in the old
days, it's OK if you need a little help and guidance. That's what I'm
here for.
You can learn a lot from my newsletters, and even more with my easy
video lessons for Apple Mac & Windows PC. If you haven't tried them
out yet, you can find out more at:
http://www.worthgodwin.com/
Well, I've got to grab a quick bite to eat and head out to meet my friend
and help her enjoy her last night on the island.
until next time, take care, and enjoy,
Worth Godwin
P.S. Remember, the old prices for my CDs won't be around for much longer, so take advantage of them while you can.
New customers can find out more at: http://www.worthgodwin.com/
missed.
25 years ago this past Saturday, the very first Apple Macintosh was
released.
Now if you're not a Mac fan, you may wonder why should you care?
Well, it was a major computer milestone that profoundly affected how
you use your computer -- even if you use Microsoft Windows.
You see, the Macintosh, when it debuted in 1984 after the still-famous
"1984" Superbowl commercial, was a revelation. And it changed the way
people used computers.
When you use a computer today, it's normal to see things like icons,
have a trash can or recycle bin icon you can throw files into, be able to
use a mouse to move files around and navigate the computer, and be
able to do everyday things like write a letter and be able to chose
different fonts (styles of print) on the screen and see something very
close to what you'll get when you print the letter out.
Not so before the Mac; since it was the computer that introduced all
of these things as standard parts of a computer. Amazing things at
the time, which seem commonplace today.
This all was possible thanks to something called a "graphical user
interface" or "GUI" (pronounced "gooey") which is a fancy way of
saying using the computer through menus, images, and icons, rather
than the old way of typing on a "command line" in a system that
often wasn't even *able* to show graphics (images). Just plain text
on a black background.
I remember vividly when I was about thirteen or fourteen, I saw my first
Mac. It was a completely different experience than any computer I'd used
before. I know many of you think of the computer as something that's
very hard to use and learn, but believe me, it's a cakewalk compared to
what it was like before the Mac.
No need to memorize a list of obscure commands and type them in on
a black screen with glowing green lines of text with no graphics. Instead,
you could just point the mouse at what you wanted to open, and double-
click it.
If you wanted to throw something away, you just dragged it into the
trash, and just like a real trash can, you could pull something back out
again if you still needed it. With the computers I used before, you had to
type in a command to delete a file, and once you hit the enter key, it was
pretty much gone for good.
I think the thing that most amazed me was using the word processor.
I had used one before, but with those older type of programs, everything
you typed looked the same -- you could chose from a few different fonts,
but you couldn't see what they looked like until you printed.
You could make things bold, or italic, but again, it all looked the same on
the screen, so you really had to use your imagination to guess at what
you'd get when you printed it out on one of those slow, old-fashioned and
very noisy "dot matrix" printers they had in those days.
It's hard to convey just how amazing this all was to me and other people
back then if you only started using computers after the early 1990s when
all of these things finally became mainstream when Windows started to
become the most used operating system.
Apparently back in the day, Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak (co-founders of
Apple) invited a young Bill Gates (co-founder of Microsoft) over to show
off their new Mac before it made its first public appearance.
He sat down, used a mouse for the first time and saw the future.
And promptly ran back to Microsoft to start a long-time habit of recycling
Apple's ideas.
Now to be fair, the mouse was invented in the 1960s, and Apple got
some of their core ideas about using the mouse & menus, etc. from
Xerox (who didn't seem to think anything much would come out of their
ideas). But Apple took those elements and transformed them into a
simple system that was *far* easier to learn and use than anything that
came before.
So even if you don't use one of Apple's Macs yourself, be thankful for
making the computer into what it is today.
Of course, while it's still much easier now than it was back in the old
days, it's OK if you need a little help and guidance. That's what I'm
here for.
You can learn a lot from my newsletters, and even more with my easy
video lessons for Apple Mac & Windows PC. If you haven't tried them
out yet, you can find out more at:
http://www.worthgodwin.com/
Well, I've got to grab a quick bite to eat and head out to meet my friend
and help her enjoy her last night on the island.
until next time, take care, and enjoy,
Worth Godwin
P.S. Remember, the old prices for my CDs won't be around for much longer, so take advantage of them while you can.
New customers can find out more at: http://www.worthgodwin.com/
0 Comments:
<< Home