Tim Cook celebrates the Mac on its 35th anniversary

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Macintosh
The very first Macintosh.
Photo: Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook took to Twitter today to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Mac.

Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder and former CEO, unveiled the very first Macintosh on January 24, 1984. The machine had been teased in a now-famous Super Bowl commercial two days earlier.

“It changed the way we think about computers and went on to change the world,” Cook says.

The original Macintosh was indeed a groundbreaking machine — the first mass-market computer with a graphical user interface controlled by a mouse. And in true Apple style, it received a dramatic introduction.

Meet the Macintosh

Apple’s iconic “1984” commercial, directed by Ridley Scott, aired only once on national TV. But thanks to its powerful message, which painted the Macintosh as a fix to a dystopian future dictated by Big Brother, the ad was picked up by news channels worldwide.

When Jobs introduced the Macintosh days later, he pulled the “insanely great” all-in-one out of a bag and had it speak to his keynote audience after showcasing some of its programs. “Hello, I’m Macintosh,” it said. “It sure is great to get out of that bag.”

35 years of the Mac

The original Macintosh line eventually become a big success for Apple. So successful, in fact, that it sold for almost ten years before it was finally discontinued in 1993.

35 years on, the Mac is bigger than it’s ever been — and as Cook points out on Twitter, it has truly changed the world.

If you’d like to relive Jobs’ introduction of the Macintosh, check out the video below.

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