An Apple A Day

The Apple Lisa.  Check out that mouse!

Twenty-eight years ago today the Apple Lisa (an acronym for “Local Integrated Software Architecture” and also the name of Steve Jobs' daughter), the first commercial computer from Apple, Inc., debuted. 


It had graphical user interface (not sure what that is) and a computer mouse (do know what that is).  At the time, the purchase price was $10,000 (present day value - $21,000).


My first experience with an Apple computer was in 1984.  A guy name Larry in my Sociology of Business class charged me a dollar per page to type my papers.  As an English major, I made Larry rich (or I should say richer, because as the owner of one of the initial  Apple computers, he probably already had plenty of money).  

Fifteen or twenty dollars a week was a lot of money to a struggling college student but my Brother Typewriter and that little white pencil/brush eraser were far,  far inferior to his preliminary Macintosh and dot-matrix printer. 


Today, I’m a complete Apple convert.  

My 5 year-old iBook, my MacBook, my iPhone and my old Shuffle.  I have a new shuffle, but can't bring myself to part with this one either. 

My daughter calls Steve Jobs an" Evil Genius" and means it only as the highest of compliments.  "Evil" in that his company's products inspire a remarkable kind of acquisitiveness.


If you want to know more, here's an interesting article from Wired about it. Come to think of it, I think I'll access it on my iPhone!