Image:
Apple Lisa
|
 |
|
| More on Apple Computers - Apple
Lisa and GUI |
• Apple
Computers
GUI Definition - On Xerox, Apple
and Progress - Apple History - Apple Lisa: The First Affordable GUI - Screenshots |
|
|
|
By
Mary
Bellis
No, Steve, I think its more like
we both have a rich neighbor named Xerox, and you broke in to steal the
TV set, and you found out I'd been there first, and you said. "Hey that's
no fair! I wanted to steal the TV set! - Bill Gates' response after Steve
Jobs accused Microsoft of borrowing the GUI (Graphical User Interface)
from Apple for Windows 1.0*
The Lisa - The Personal Computer
That Works The Way You Do - Apple promotional material
A GUI (pronounced GOO-ee) is a graphical
user interface to a computer. Most of you are using one right now. Take
a look at your computer screen, the GUI provides you with windows, pull-down
menus, clickable buttons, scroll bars, icons, images and the mouse or pointer.
The first user interfaces to computers were not graphical or visually oriented;
they were all text and keyboard commands. MS-DOS
is an example of a text and keyboard method of computer control that you
can still find on many PCs today.
The very first graphical
user interface was developed by the Xerox Corporation at their Palo
Alto Research Center (PARC) in
the 1970s, but it was not until the 1980s when GUIs became widespread and
popular. By that time the CPU
power and monitors necessary for an effective GUI became cheap enough to
use in home computers.
Steve
Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computers, visited PARC in 1979 (after buying
Xerox stock) and was impressed by the "Alto", the first computer ever with
a graphical user interface. Several PARC engineers were later hired by
Apple and worked on the Apple Lisa and Macintosh. The Apple research team
contributed much in the way of originality in their first GUI computers,
and work had already begun on the Lisa before Jobs visited PARC. Jobs was
definitely inspired and influenced from the technology he saw at PARC,
however, enough for Bill Gates to later defend Microsoft against an Apple's
lawsuit over Windows
1.0 having too much of the "look and feel" of a Apple MacIntosh. Gates'
claim being, "hey, we both got it from Xerox." The lawsuit ended when Gates
finally agreed that Microsoft would not use MacIntosh technology in Windows
1.0, but the use of that technology in future versions of Windows was left
open. With that agreement, Apple lost its exclusive rights to certain key
design elements.
In 1978, Apple Computers started
on a business system to complement their successful Apple II/III line of
home computers. The new project was code named Lisa, unofficially after
the daughter of one of its designers and officially standing for Local
Integrated Software Architecture. Steve Jobs was completely dedicated to
new project, implementing feature after feature and delaying the release
of Lisa, until he was finally removed as project manager by then Apple
president Mark Markkula. The Lisa was finally released in January 1983.
Side Note: Don't worry about Jobs.
He then turned his attention to the
Macintosh.
The Lisa was the first personal computer
to use a GUI. Other innovative features for the personal market included
a drop-down menu bar, windows, multiple tasking, a hierarchal file system,
the ability to copy and paste, icons, folders and a mouse. It cost Apple
$50 million to develop the Lisa and $100 million to write the software,
and only 10,000 units were ever sold. One year later the Lisa 2 was released
with a 3.5" drive instead of the two 5.25" and a price tag slashed in half
from the original $9,995. In 1985, the Lisa 2 was renamed the Macintosh
XL and bundled with MacWorks system software. Finally in 1986, the Lisa,
Lisa 2 and Macintosh XL line was scrapped altogether, literally ending
up as landfill, despite Steve Jobs saying, "We're prepared to live with
Lisa for the next ten years."
|
Specifications
|
The
Lisa/Lisa 2/Mac XL
|
| CPU: |
MC68000 |
| CPU speed: |
5 Mhz |
| FPU: |
None |
| Motherboard RAM: |
minimum 512 k - maximum 2MB |
| ROM: |
16k |
| Serial Ports: |
2 RS-323 |
| Parallel Ports: |
1 Lisa - 0 Lisa 2/MacXL |
| Floppy Drive: |
2 internal 871k 5.25"
1 internal 400k Sony 3.5" Lisa 2/MacXL |
| Hard Drive: |
5 MB internal; |
| Monitor: |
Built-In 12" - 720 x 360 pixels |
| Power Supply: |
150 Watts |
| Weight: |
48 lbs. |
| Dimensions: |
15.2" H x 18.7" W x 13.8" D |
| System Software: |
LisaOS/MacWorks |
| Production: |
January 1983 to August 1986 |
| Initial Cost: |
$9,995 |
The high cost and delays in its release
date helped to create the Lisa's demise, but where the Lisa failed the Macintosh succeeded. Continue reading about Apple's history with our next
chapter on the Macintosh.
A month after the Lisa line was cut;
Steve Jobs quit his job at Apple. However, do not worry about what happened
to Jobs. He then turned his attention to the NeXT computer.
Next
Chapter > The
Apple Macintosh
*Quote found
on http://www.apple-history.com
all artwork
©MaryBellis
|
