{"video_id":"V_VNQuenav8","title":"Was The Most Important PC an Apple?","channel":"Techquickie","show":"Techquickie","published_at":"2023-05-05T14:58:16Z","duration_s":290,"segments":[{"start_s":0.0,"end_s":5.68,"text":"Even if you're not an Apple fan or if you roll your eyes anytime you see someone excited over the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.68,"end_s":11.28,"text":"next iPhone, there's no denying how influential the Mac was in shaving our modern conceptions","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":11.28,"end_s":16.08,"text":"of what a computer is supposed to be for the average user, particularly with its user-friendly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":16.08,"end_s":22.08,"text":"GUI having a massive influence on layer systems. But the Mac really owes its legacy to an earlier","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":22.08,"end_s":27.44,"text":"Apple system, the Lisa, which is named after Steve Jobs' daughter and was the very first","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":27.52,"end_s":33.04,"text":"personal computer with a full-fledged graphical interface, complete with a mouse cursor and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":33.04,"end_s":37.6,"text":"pretty icons. These are things we take for granted nowadays, but believe it or not,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":37.6,"end_s":43.12,"text":"Jobs had to be convinced to take the Lisa in this direction. You see, although Lisa was the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":43.12,"end_s":48.88,"text":"first home and office PC to have a GUI, the first computer period that had one that we know of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":48.88,"end_s":56.32,"text":"was called the Xerox Alto, which debuted in 1973. Jobs, however, had a very low opinion of Xerox,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":56.32,"end_s":61.44,"text":"and it wasn't until he actually visited the company and saw the Alto for himself that he green","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":61.44,"end_s":69.28,"text":"lit making the Lisa a GUI-based machine. The Alto cost $32,000 and was never produced in large","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":69.28,"end_s":74.96,"text":"quantities, so Apple saw an opportunity with Lisa to produce a cheaper, more accessible machine that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":74.96,"end_s":80.96,"text":"still packed a punch and would be attractive to businesses. It had a 5 MHz Motorola CPU,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":80.96,"end_s":88.48,"text":"one megabyte of RAM, a 5 MHz hard drive, a 12-inch black and white 720 x 364 screen,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":88.48,"end_s":93.52,"text":"and a pair of 5 1⁄4 inch floppy drives to read those wacky old-school disks. They were","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":93.52,"end_s":99.84,"text":"actually floppy. At the time, these specs weren't bad, but the real attraction was Lisa's operating","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":99.84,"end_s":106.48,"text":"system, which actually introduced far more than just a GUI. Lisa's OS introduced multitasking to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":106.48,"end_s":110.4,"text":"the typical user, where you could switch between programs without closing them first.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":112.0,"end_s":117.6,"text":"That was massive! In addition to protected memory, which segmented off the memory space for each","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":117.6,"end_s":123.04,"text":"program, allowing the system to be both versatile and stable. Combined that with other novel features","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":123.04,"end_s":128.8,"text":"like a built-in screensaver, the ability to cut and paste, whatever that is, and virtual memory,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":128.8,"end_s":133.68,"text":"which allowed the system to use a hard disk space as additional RAM, the Lisa's OS was much more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":133.68,"end_s":138.64,"text":"powerful than what most users were used to. But all of these cool features put a lot of strain","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":138.64,"end_s":144.4,"text":"on the system's hardware. Consequently, Lisa unfortunately gained a reputation for sluggish","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":144.4,"end_s":150.4,"text":"performance due to its software being ahead of the actual components inside, which wasn't acceptable","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":150.4,"end_s":158.08,"text":"for a computer that cost merely $10,000. Yeah, although it was a lot cheaper than the Xerox","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":158.8,"end_s":164.72,"text":"This was obviously a massive amount of money still to charge. Apple hoped that the cost wouldn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":164.72,"end_s":169.52,"text":"be much of an issue for businesses, but it turned out that not a whole lot of companies","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":169.52,"end_s":175.44,"text":"were interested in expensive PC with underwhelming performance, especially as the included software","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":175.44,"end_s":181.04,"text":"seemed to be more focused towards designers. Indeed, as innovative as Lisa was, it just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":181.04,"end_s":185.68,"text":"wasn't taken seriously enough in many quarters. There wasn't enough third-party software,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":185.68,"end_s":190.0,"text":"the special high-capacity floppy drives turned out to be unreliable, and many users looked at the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":190.0,"end_s":195.36,"text":"mouse as a gimmicky toy instead of something for serious computing, even though the Lisa also","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":195.36,"end_s":199.04,"text":"introduced the concept of double clicking, something that Apple came up with as a way to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":199.04,"end_s":205.28,"text":"make their single button mouse more versatile instead of adding more buttons. Only about 10,000","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":205.28,"end_s":213.84,"text":"Lisa's were sold after Apple sunk over $150 million into the project, but if it flopped so hard,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":213.84,"end_s":218.0,"text":"how did its innovative features live on? Well, it turns out that Steve Jobs was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":218.0,"end_s":222.56,"text":"actually kicked off the Lisa team for being an annoying micromanager, and when that happened,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":222.56,"end_s":227.44,"text":"he took the ideas and even some of his colleagues from the Lisa team over to the Macintosh team,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":227.44,"end_s":235.2,"text":"whose goal was to make a scaled-back Lisa at a far lower cost. When the Mac did launch in 1984,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":235.2,"end_s":240.64,"text":"it only cost one-fourth of what the Lisa did, causing the Lisa to kind of fade into computing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":240.64,"end_s":245.04,"text":"history by the end of 1986. But that doesn't mean it's gone for good. There's actually a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":245.04,"end_s":248.72,"text":"working Lisa emulator we'll link down in the description if you want to try it out for yourself.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":248.72,"end_s":253.36,"text":"As for the real Lisa, she went on to become a magazine writer. Oh, I doubt she ever used","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":253.36,"end_s":257.2,"text":"her silicon counterpart to write articles. Thanks for watching guys, like, dislike,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":257.2,"end_s":260.64,"text":"check out some of her other videos, comment with video suggestions, and don't forget to subscribe","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":260.64,"end_s":261.36,"text":"and follow.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"Even if you're not an Apple fan or if you roll your eyes anytime you see someone excited over the next iPhone, there's no denying how influential the Mac was in shaving our modern conceptions of what a computer is supposed to be for the average user, particularly with its user-friendly GUI having a massive influence on layer systems. But the Mac really owes its legacy to an earlier Apple system, the Lisa, which is named after Steve Jobs' daughter and was the very first personal computer with a full-fledged graphical interface, complete with a mouse cursor and pretty icons. These are things we take for granted nowadays, but believe it or not, Jobs had to be convinced to take the Lisa in this direction. You see, although Lisa was the first home and office PC to have a GUI, the first computer period that had one that we know of was called the Xerox Alto, which debuted in 1973. Jobs, however, had a very low opinion of Xerox, and it wasn't until he actually visited the company and saw the Alto for himself that he green lit making the Lisa a GUI-based machine. The Alto cost $32,000 and was never produced in large quantities, so Apple saw an opportunity with Lisa to produce a cheaper, more accessible machine that still packed a punch and would be attractive to businesses. It had a 5 MHz Motorola CPU, one megabyte of RAM, a 5 MHz hard drive, a 12-inch black and white 720 x 364 screen, and a pair of 5 1⁄4 inch floppy drives to read those wacky old-school disks. They were actually floppy. At the time, these specs weren't bad, but the real attraction was Lisa's operating system, which actually introduced far more than just a GUI. Lisa's OS introduced multitasking to the typical user, where you could switch between programs without closing them first. That was massive! In addition to protected memory, which segmented off the memory space for each program, allowing the system to be both versatile and stable. Combined that with other novel features like a built-in screensaver, the ability to cut and paste, whatever that is, and virtual memory, which allowed the system to use a hard disk space as additional RAM, the Lisa's OS was much more powerful than what most users were used to. But all of these cool features put a lot of strain on the system's hardware. Consequently, Lisa unfortunately gained a reputation for sluggish performance due to its software being ahead of the actual components inside, which wasn't acceptable for a computer that cost merely $10,000. Yeah, although it was a lot cheaper than the Xerox This was obviously a massive amount of money still to charge. Apple hoped that the cost wouldn't be much of an issue for businesses, but it turned out that not a whole lot of companies were interested in expensive PC with underwhelming performance, especially as the included software seemed to be more focused towards designers. Indeed, as innovative as Lisa was, it just wasn't taken seriously enough in many quarters. There wasn't enough third-party software, the special high-capacity floppy drives turned out to be unreliable, and many users looked at the mouse as a gimmicky toy instead of something for serious computing, even though the Lisa also introduced the concept of double clicking, something that Apple came up with as a way to make their single button mouse more versatile instead of adding more buttons. Only about 10,000 Lisa's were sold after Apple sunk over $150 million into the project, but if it flopped so hard, how did its innovative features live on? Well, it turns out that Steve Jobs was actually kicked off the Lisa team for being an annoying micromanager, and when that happened, he took the ideas and even some of his colleagues from the Lisa team over to the Macintosh team, whose goal was to make a scaled-back Lisa at a far lower cost. When the Mac did launch in 1984, it only cost one-fourth of what the Lisa did, causing the Lisa to kind of fade into computing history by the end of 1986. But that doesn't mean it's gone for good. There's actually a working Lisa emulator we'll link down in the description if you want to try it out for yourself. As for the real Lisa, she went on to become a magazine writer. Oh, I doubt she ever used her silicon counterpart to write articles. Thanks for watching guys, like, dislike, check out some of her other videos, comment with video suggestions, and don't forget to subscribe and follow."}