Today marks thirty years since the first release of the Macintosh (Mac), Apple's iconic computer.
At first it was considered impressive, but a failure. In its successive versions it was fanatically loved by architects, graphic designers and musicians, as well as those involved in writing texts. The first Mac cost $500 to manufacture. In the first year, 250,000 units were sold and by last October, 78 million Macs in total in its history. It deeply influenced the high-tech industry in general and in particular the products that Apple has manufactured since then with its simplicity of design and ease of use. On January 24, 1984, when the event for the Mac's debut began, Steve Jobs appeared and read the lyrics from Bob Dylan's song "The Times are a-Changing". Then came the then head of Apple, J. Sculley, who spoke positively about his acquaintance with Mr. Jobs (after 6 months, however, he fired him). Steve Jobs returned and, continuing to add drama to the event, referred to IBM's dominant position in personal computers and wondered if the writer George Orwell and his futuristic novel "1984" with Big Brother (IBM, according to Jobs), who watches everyone, would finally be confirmed.
By October, 78 million Macs had been sold since its launch.
However, it was the Macintosh that challenged IBM's monopoly. Initially, however, it proved to be a failure. Its memory was small at 128K, the available software was limited and its price was expensive at $2,500. Its course was smoothed out in 1986 with the Macintosh Plus and 1 MB of memory, which, combined with the Apple LaserWriter printer, offered attractive solutions to companies and individuals.
Source: kathimerini.gr
