25 Jun
1997
25 Jun
'97
1:38 p.m.
Hey, waitaminnit.... The lisa is one of the best
looking computers around!
I think it's design is a classic!
Unfortunately, it was a classic design at the time - a lot of people
thought it looked like a dumb terminal (VT100).
(Also, I think it was technically
impressive -- I remember being very impressed upon seeing a demo in a little
back room of the St. Francis hotel just before it was announced.)
I wouldn't think that "too innovative"
would result in a lesser rating for
"technical" aspects (at least in the realm of computer history/collecting;
the "real" world is a different matter (see "success"...))
That is why I call it a foul - they gave the ball a real smack, but into
the side seats. Using the 68000 was a big step, far more powerful than
what powered most desktop machines at the time. The problem is that Apple
tried to do too much with the poor chip. As a system, it really is no
good (I am going to catch at least one rotten peach for this). The
engineers should have seen this and cut down the operating system.
Question for any Alto owners - was the original Xerox GUI machine just as
slow?
William Donzelli
william(a)ans.net