Once upon a time, way back in 1984, the Mac was new. Let us travel back to the past for another look into the amazing first issue of MacWorld, which I acquired two weeks ago at a family reunion.
This week, let’s turn to “Polishing the Mac,” an extraordinarily long interview by David Bunnell (almost 4,000 words) with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates that is basically just about the Mac’s greatness. I’ll tease with a choice quote, then click through for some more of Chairman Bill’s still-prescient (and now hilarious and ironic) praise for the Mac. Also, dig the hair and glasses. Could he look more like his Anthony Michael Hall doppelganger if he tried?
On the Mac’s Ease of Use: “The Mac heralds a major change in how people view and interact with application programs. That’s why I’m so excited about it. There’s no question that I’ll let my mom try it out.”
Much, much more after the jump.
On PCs compared to Macs: “You couldn’t get performance or graphics like the Mac’s out of the PC at a comparable price. … “The Mac has easily twice (the horsepower) of a PC. That’s a lot of power, and that power can be exploited in many ways, including moving bits around on the screen.”
On Microsoft’s Involvement in the Mac’s Development: “Whenever you get involved with prototype machines that early on, you are essentially part of the engineering team… We’ve learned a great deal about doing graphics applications, and we’ve made sure that their subsystem, dialog boxes and memory manager fit in properly.” (Editor’s Note: That is surprisingly incriminating, given the development of Windows so soon after…)
On the Mac’s Place in the Industry: “The Mac will mean that there’s at least one company besides IBM in the personal computer business that doesn’t have to do everything the iBM way. … I’ve always said that the Mac is an ideal machine for office use, but it’s also a great general purpose machine. We think it will address several markets and remind people that the pace of innovations hasn’t slowed down in the industry.”
On the Mac as Gateway Drug: “I’ll enjoy having some people I know who are new to computers play with the Mac and see if it doesn’t draw them into the excitement of interactive personal computing.”
On the Mac’s Place in History: “The Mac is fun and exciting, and it fulfills Apple’s image of producing very personal, interactive, state-of-the-art computers. It’s a blend of Apple’s knowledge of what personal computing should be and what the semiconductor industry has made possible. It’s a great mixture, and it’s something that Apple is perfectly positioned to sell to people. The Mac will be remembered as one of the great classic machines.”
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen: Bill Gates, leader of the anti-Mac charge, singing its praises to the high heaven, even as Microsoft was making Windows to try to steal its thunder. Absolutely shameless.
Pete Mortensen is a design strategist for consulting firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete’s particular Apple avocations are both around design–interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!
