November 26, 1984: “The next generation of interesting software will be done on the Macintosh, not the IBM PC,” claims Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in a BusinessWeek cover story.
The claim would seem almost unthinkable coming out of Gates’ mouth just a few years later. But it lands at a time when Microsoft is best known as one of the biggest Mac developers.
November 21, 1985: Following Steve Jobs’ departure, Apple comes close to signing its own death warrant by licensing the Macintosh’s look and feel to Microsoft.
The deal, between Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple CEO John Sculley, comes hot on the heels of the Windows operating system’s release. The pact gives Microsoft a “non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, nontransferable license to use [parts of the Mac technology] in present and future software programs, and to license them to and through third parties for use in their software programs.”
Oh, boy!
November 16, 1982: Intent on calling Apple’s upcoming personal computer the “Macintosh,” Steve Jobs pens an impassioned plea to audio company McIntosh Laboratory asking permission to use the name.
You can probably guess how the resulting discussions turned out!
October 19, 1992: Apple launches the Mac IIvx, the first Macintosh computer to ship with a metal case and, more importantly, an internal CD-ROM drive.
The last of the Macintosh II series, the Mac IIvx experiences one of the more notorious price adjustments in Apple history. Within five months of shipping, Apple slashes the computer’s launch price of $2,949 to $1,899. That’s one way to reward early adopters!
September 27, 1979: Years before the Macintosh will ship, Steve Jobs and Jef Raskin clash for the first time over the direction of the R&D project to produce the revolutionary computer.
Raskin, the founder of the Macintosh project, wants to produce a machine that’s affordable to everyone. Apple co-founder Jobs wants a computer that’s going to be the best, regardless of price.
Guess who won?
August 31, 2004: Apple launches the iMac G5, a distinctive, white plastic computer that looks a little like the world’s biggest iPod.
Housed in a 2-inch-thick enclosure reminiscent of Apple’s Cinema Displays, the new all-in-one machine bridges the gap between the pleasing plasticity of the iconic G3 iMac and the minimalist form factor of the ultra-slim aluminum Macs that will follow.
August 25, 1995: Apple releases the PowerBook 5300, the Mac laptop that will save the world from alien invaders in the 1996 blockbuster movie Independence Day.
The computer will make many more big-screen appearances, too. See some of the laptop’s most high-profile Hollywood cameos below.
July 27, 1955: Joanna Hoffman, who will join the original Macintosh and NeXT teams and become Steve Jobs’ first right-hand woman, is born in Poland.
Six months younger than Jobs, the marketing executive is one of the few people willing and able to stand up to the oftentimes-fierce Apple co-founder during the first part of his career.
July 18, 1994: Apple launches the Quadra, Performa and LC 630 Macintoshes, three similar computers with slight differences tailored for the professional, home and educational markets.
Buyers can configure the new 630 series Macs for less than $2,000. Today, the idea of paying more than $4,100 (adjusted for inflation) for a decent multimedia computer sounds over the top. But in 1994, these new Macs looked like a total steal.
July 4, 1985: Steve Jobs visits Moscow for the first time, with the aim of selling Macs to the Russians.
During his two-day trip, Jobs lectures computer science students in the Soviet Union, attends a Fourth of July party at the American embassy and discusses opening a Mac factory in Russia. He also reportedly almost runs afoul of the KGB by praising assassinated Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky.
