Apple Lisa

The Apple Lisa (also just " Lisa " and "The Lisa" called ) from 1983 was one of the first personal computer, which possessed a mouse and an operating system with graphical user interface. Because of the high price of around $ 10,000, the computer sold poorly, and Apple stopped production in 1984 again. In the Computer History Lisa is considered preparation for the much cheaper but technically similar Apple Macintosh in 1984. Medium term, the "Mac" was a great success for the California computer company.

Importance

Until the early 1980s, computers were usually operated by keyboard via a command line. Lisa was - in addition to the Xerox Star hardly known from 1981 - the first commercial computer to feature a graphical user interface with desk character and mouse operation. Steve Jobs, who was Lisa develop as a successor of the popular Apple II, got the inspiration for this on a visit to Xerox PARC in 1979, when he saw the Xerox Alto computer research in 1974. Lisa stood in competition with the recently released IBM PC. Although Microsoft offered from 1985 with the introduction of Microsoft Windows, a principle similar graphical user interface for IBM - PC compatible computer - but this was in the early years mature than little and only with version 3.0, from about 1990, gradually emerged as serious competition to Apple's products.

The New York Times wrote on January 19, 1983, immediately prior to the appearance of the computer:

" Instead of typing commands by pointing at images on the screen by pushing around a run of hand-held device called a mouse, on the surface of the desk, near the computer. While the mouse moves the cursor moves - this is the arrow pointing to specific locations on the screen -. Accordingly "

The London Sunday Times wrote on 25 January 1983:

"Today, we look at the two major publications of the last week more closely - the European debut of the IBM personal computer and the premiere of Apple's Lisa. Internationally, Lisa was by far the most exciting event. A new computer to which the two overused slogans, user-friendly 'and' revolutionary ' is indeed the case "

The fact that Lisa represented a milestone in computer technology, a computer editor from 1983 is also evident on the basis of a very positive experience written report:

"The real hallmark of Lisa is that mouse '. This small handheld device, connected by a thin cord to the computer, Lisa's, man / machine interface '. With the roller ball and the button, the mouse allows intuitive ' user guidance. By rolling on the table the cursor is out of the screen, a command word or symbol, clicked ', and you've got Lisa issued a command, without anyone touching the keyboard or would have mastered complex command languages. "

Origin of the name

While in the supplied original documents of the Lisa OS was only of "The Lisa " is mentioned, was officially claimed by Apple that we are dealing with Lisa an acronym for Local Integrated Software Architecture, that "local integrated software architecture." Since Steve Jobs' first daughter, who was born in 1978, was named Lisa Jobs, it is generally also assume that the name has a personal meaning and it is ergo is a backronym.

Hardware

A processor of the Motorola 68000 was (including MMU) 5 MHz and 16 -bit data bus are used. 512 kB RAM were soldered onto the motherboard, while the user was able to upgrade the computer to a maximum of 1 MB of RAM.

The Lisa had two 5 ¼ -inch floppy disk drives, each with 871 KB capacity. An external hard drive with a maximum size of 10 MB could be retrofitted.

In 1984 appeared with the Lisa 2, a revised model in which the two 5 ¼ -inch floppy disk drives were replaced by a single, more modern 3.5 -inch drive among others.

Software

The operating system is Lisa OS was used alternatively Xenix.

The graphical user interface was called Lisa Shell and had large icons that represented a desk, which in the following years - was the usual industry standard today - with some delay with other manufacturers.

Six office applications have been included: LisaCalc, Lisa graph LisaDraw, LisaWrite, Lisa Lisa and Project List. Lisa Terminal cost 850 DM separately. As additional programming languages ​​, there were BASIC, COBOL and Pascal.

Economic failure

Apple Lisa was with a price of 9995 U.S. dollars very expensive ( in Germany about 30,000 DM in Austria 200,000 shillings, according to today's purchasing power 26,000 euros ), and sold poorly despite good equipment and then highly innovative concept. To be able to at least write off of the tax, 2700 unsaleable Apple Lisa in 1989 on a garbage dump in the U.S. state of Utah simply buried. The successor Lisa 2 (1984 ) was the beginning of 1985 ( after the introduction of even " shoe box " called small Macintosh) renamed Macintosh XL. In Austria, there was at that time only a few dealers, where you could buy Lisa.

Popular culture

The Simpsons Episode 497 (. Friend request from Lisa, in the original: The D' Oh- cial Network Season 23, Episode 11 ) Lisa Simpson is seen in a shot, as they on an old Lisa the brand " Mapple " - parody the electronics manufacturer Apple - works.

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