What better way to mark the 40th anniversary of the Macintosh introduction than by sharing your Mac memories with the Steve Jobs Archive? The Archive is asking Mac users to answer one question: What did the Mac make possible for you?
The Archive has also published a new entry entitled “40 years of the Macintosh” that begins with photographer Norman Seeff on assignment for Rolling Stone. Here’s an excerpt:
When photographer Norman Seeff arrived at Apple’s offices in January 1984, he didn’t know what to expect. An editor at Rolling Stone had told him only that this was a “weird company” full of hippies making computers. Now Seeff, along with reporter Steven Levy, was covering these “whiz kids” as they prepared to launch their latest product—a new machine called Macintosh.
The atmosphere inside the office was a world away from the power suits and perms typical of 1980s corporate America. An expensive Bӧsendorfer grand piano sat in the lobby; employees often played it during breaks. Nearby stood a first-generation Sony CD player hooked up to a gigantic pair of speakers. There were scooters. Pets. Babies. Everyone wore jeans; some even had bare feet.
“It looked like a commune,” says Seeff. “It was so alive.”
The entry takes you back to 1984 and tells the story behind two photos that now serve as snapshots of history in the making. More from the piece:
Not long after these photographs were taken, the Macintosh was announced to the world. The road ahead would not be straightforward—not for the product, not for the group who made it, and not for Steve himself. But one realization was clear even in January 1984: new things were now possible.
“I remember the week before we launched the Mac,” Steve recalled in 2007. “We all got together, and we said, ‘Every computer is going to work this way. You can’t argue about that anymore. You can argue about how long it will take, but you can’t argue about it anymore.’”
You can subscribe to the Steve Jobs Archive newsletter here, and submit your Macintosh memory with the Archive by emailing macintosh@stevejobsarchive.com.
Featured image courtesy of Museums Victoria by way of Unsplash
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