Apple Survived ’80s Thanks To One Piece of Software, Says Guy Kawasaki

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Author and former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki speaks at the Ad:Tech conference in San Francisco.
Author and former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki at Ad:Tech
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SAN FRANCISCO — The survival of Apple beyond the 1980s comes down to a single piece of software, says Guy Kawasaki, bestselling author and Apple’s former chief evangelist. That single, miraculous piece of software — Aldus PageMaker — fueled a desktop publishing revolution, and saved Apple’s bacon in the process.

The comment came Tuesday during a highly entertaining keynote speech at the Ad:Tech conference here to promote Kawasaki’s new book, Enchantment. The book is a manual of persuasion in the mold of Dale Carnegie’s famous How to Win Friends & Influence People. (I’m reading it and will post a review soon.)

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How Aldus PageMaker saved Apple

Kawasaki said the original Mac wasn’t much good for spreadsheets or databases, but was good for designing print publications. According to Kawasaki, the Mac would have died shortly after its introduction in 1984 if it hadn’t been for PageMaker, the original page-layout program.

“PageMaker was a bright spot that created this gigantic bright spot — desktop publishing,” he said.

“Desktop publishing — it saved Apple,” Kawasaki continued. “It was a gift from God to save Apple. There is no other explanation for the survival of Apple than it is evidence of a benevolent god.”

This line got a pretty good laugh from the audience of ad industry types — all of whom were toting MacBook Airs or iPads.

Kawasaki also said that the original Mac was a “piece of crap” but it was a “revolutionary piece of crap.” And that the Mac development team was the greatest collection of egos in one room in the history of Silicon Valley — “and that’s saying a lot.”

The Mac division held this record for 20 years, Kawasaki said, until the title was taken by — wait for it — Google.

Former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki’s key to enchanting people

Kawasaki’s talk wasn’t all about Aldus Pagemaker. Most of it focused on 10 ways to enchant people. Enchantment is a higher form of persuasion that involves likability, trustworthiness, and a higher cause.

One of his points was to “sell your dream.” He gave the example of the iPhone, which he said is rightly described as $188 dollars worth of parts, manufactured in a plant where workers tend to commit suicide, and is hitched to America’s worst cellphone network.

“But this is not how Steve Jobs pitched the iPhone,” he said to a big roar of laughter.

If you get a chance to see Kawasaki speak, I highly recommend it. We’ll post a video if one surfaces. Also check out his book Enchantment. It’s a great and entertaining read so far, and is proving to be full of practical advice.

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