Steve by Norman Seeff 1984
1982 Apple Computer Milestones Poster
Written By: Scott
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Feb•
19•12
I have got a thing for old Apple Computer posters. Here’s my latest- It’s called Apple Milestones poster from 1982. It was given to Apple employees at a company party celebrating $1 Billion in sales for that year (fyi- they recorded $108 billion for fiscal year 2011)
Apple Milestones Poster 1982
The statement reads-
Thanks to you, Apple has grown faster than any company in modern business history. Our historic rise to the top has been made possible only through the combined efforts of all Apple people.”
Then it lists each financial milestone Apple achieved, followed by a signature of A. C. (Mike) Markkula, Apple’s CEO at the time and original investor in 1977.
Here it is in the Computer History Museum.
She made Macintosh friendly
Written By: Scott
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Jan•
24•12
Holy Cow! It happened again. I discovered another member of the original Macintosh Team. You will recognize her work, immediately. And it is on the eve of Macintosh’s birthday I want to celebrate her significant contributions.
First, her name is Susan Kare. She began working with the Mac Team in January 1983. She designed most of the icons AND fonts for Macintosh (see I told you she is a member of the Mac Hall of Fame). She also helped craft the overall look and personality of the system.
The whole point of a Graphical User Interface is so the user can point and click. Pictures (icons) provided instructions and direction. Susan designed these icons.
Her profession is in User Interface Graphics- an understatement really, because she is like the Mother of User Interface Graphics…literally. Her work probably more than anyone else’s made Macintosh friendly as a result of the warm and personal images she designed.
“There are too many Apples on the screen It’s ridiculous! We’re taking the Apple logo in vain. We’ve got to stop doing that!” Steve Jobs telling the Mac Team to create another symbol instead of the Apple logo to be used as the ‘command’ key.
With that Susan created the command key still used on all Macs today. For this symbol she decided on a floral design used on Swedish maps to indicate an interesting feature or attraction. Interestingly, her website describes the story behind each of her famous icons.
One of her first assignments after coming on board with Apple was to develop fonts for the new computer (the Macintosh!). Back then, computers used typefaces called monospaced- all letters were allotted the same amount of space resulting in crammed jammed letters. But the Mac was the first computer designed with proportionally spaced digital font family and Susan designed it! (Steve Jobs changed the names of most of them from the names she assigned though).
Then she went about designing the visual elements-instantly comprehensible signs-on Macintosh and boy, did she!
Thanks Susan.
Susan published her famous icons. Susan Kare ICONS. Get it. I did!
Designer of the Apple logo
Written By: Scott
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Jan•
14•12
I finally took the time to watch the PBS Steve Jobs Special- One last thing and afterwards, to give my mind time to absorb things, I did a Google search “Steve Jobs.” Kind of the “I’m feeling lucky” approach to research and casual reading, as there was nothing particular I was looking for.
Wiki box
Within 0.26 seconds, 1,480,000 results populated and top on the list was the Wiki on Steve Jobs. Even though there is nothing new under the sun (and I’ve about read everything I can get my grubby little hands on about him and the early days of Apple), I clicked through anyway and began scanning. I glanced down the page, there midway down and off to the side was a box referencing Apple’s logo creator, Rob Janoff.
Apple’s logo is one of the most widely recognized images of any company in the world. It is classic. And their original multi-colored logo of an apple with a bite missing is my favorite and symbolizes early Apple best.
Rob’s Wiki is short and sweet. His pedigree centers on this single fact- “He is known for his creation of the Apple logo.” Wow! This guy is an important cast member in the Apple story and someone whose work is near and dear to my heart, and that of millions of other Apple fans.
Rob Janoff- creator of the Apple logo
And then I found it- the golden nugget that my muse led me to- a reference at the bottom of his page to an interview conducted with him on August 3, 2009 with Ivan of CreativeBits.org.
Talk about a piece of Apple history! Here Rob walks us through the story of meeting Steve, the hiring of ad agency he worked for, the how and why of the logo’s design and also dispels the many myths around this magical design, including all the ones about what the color stripes represent.
…the real solid reason for the stripes was that the Apple II was the first home or personal computer that could reproduce images on the monitor in color. So it represents color bars on the screen. Rob Janoff, designer of the Apple logo
An interview for the ages. Man, I love the Web!
Credit: Wiki on Steve Jobs and Rob Janoff, CreativeBits.org both for content and images
Mac Museum is expanding
Written By: Scott
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Jan•
13•12
My shelves were full. I had stuff in drawers and stuck behind other things Apple. I needed more shelf space.
There is an old country store a few miles from my house. It’s opened and closed several times since the 1940′s. On one side of this old single story, wood frame store is a semi-open storage area where I spotted a perfect display for some of my Apple collection. It was wood and old. Nothing fancy, but just the thing.
Two challenges presented themselves, three actually. I had to get the current store owner to agree to part with it. Then I had to get it home. Finally, I couldn’t make more waves about my Apple stuff on the home-front. My wife of 26 yrs is into getting rid of junk and clutter. Me, I’m a collector. An accumulator. And I need more shelf space for my valuables 
Changing the world
Written By: Scott
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Jan•
11•12
Changing the world, one person at a time
Not to sound like a small thinker, but I’ve not concentrated on changing the World. Sure, I’d like to leave a mark, but making a mark is totally different than changing the World.
From all I’ve read there is no doubt it is a characteristic of a Hippy to want to change the world, literally. Yes, there are some individuals who come along who want to, but Hippies as a group did. Lots of reasons why and I won’t try to include them all here. Suffice to say the world was in upheaval then. War. Big Government. Big Brother. University Systems. Authority in general, actually. So, the Hippie Generation wanted to change the World. They saw lots of things they thought needed changing.
The hippy movement of the ’60s was a revolution against the established order. It is also the reason why the hippies were unable to unite and overthrow the system since they refused to build their own power base. Hippies don’t impose their beliefs on others. Instead, hippies seek to change the world… Skip Stone The Way of the Hippy
Well, Steve was right there in the thick of things and he brought much of it with him to Apple.
Steve did in fact change the world one person at a time because as of June 2011-
Apple released this information at the WWDC:
- 54 million Mac users worldwide
- Mac grew 28% while PC market shrank 1%
- Mac sales are 73% notebooks, 27% desktops.
- Mac App Store is now the #1 PC software channel over Best Buy and Walmart
- Pixelmator made $1 million in its first 20 days, quadrupling its revenue.
- over 200 million iOS devices sold
- more than 44% of installed mobile user base
- 25 million iPads in first 14 months
- 15 billion songs sold in the iTunes store
- #1 music retailer in the world
- iBookstore downloads topped 130 million; six publishers on board
- 425,000 apps in the App Store; 90,00 are for the iPad
- 14 billion apps downloaded from the App Store
- Apple paid out more than US$2.5 billion to devs
- 225 million iTunes accounts
- 50 million Game Center users
Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do. – Think Different, narrated by Steve Jobs
Apple Reading List Link
Written By: Scott
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Jan•
02•12
My Favorite Apple is a journal for my hobby of collecting all things Apple. I wanted a place to keep my notes, quick jots, pics, videos and records together in a central place. I realized too there are Apple fans who might enjoy collecting Apple and who can relate with my pursuit of Apple memorabilia and machines, so I decided to put it online here at My Favorite Apple.
I love reading about the old days of Apple, in fact I ordered two more books last night- Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple : A Journey of Adventure, Ideas, and the Future by John Sculley & John A. Byrne and Return to the Little Kingdom: How Apple and Steve Jobs Changed the World by Michael Moritz.
Today I found a jewel of an Apple resource. Apple fan Andy Molloy created an Apple Reading List. Andy has taken on the task of cataloging every book on Apple. While you’re there check out History Links- it’s hyperlink Apple heaven for online resources.
Thanks for all the hard work Andy. I’m added it to my link list.
Hippies & Macintosh
Written By: Scott
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Jan•
02•12
Did you know if it weren’t for the Hippie Movement you’d probably not be sitting there reading this, nor would I here playing on this thing called a MacBook Pro typing out the letters on my wireless keyboard on my 30″ Apple Cinema Display. Yes, I said Hippies-
- 1960′s
- West Coast
- counterculture
- drugs
- peace, love, share
- festivals
- non-consumerism
- communes
- apple orchards
- “What’s mine is yours”
- individual power
- anti-establishment
- anti-goverment
- anti-war
- rebels
How do I figure that a bunch of Hippies are credited with having a major hand in the invention and development of today’s super cool technology (smartphones, tablet computers, digital music players), including the invention of the Macintosh, Apple’s first true personal computer?
Dive deep into this subject- start here and follow the links, and don’t forget to come up for air. This is good stuff!
Stewart Brand’s Time Magazine article- “We all owe it to the Hippies.”
Computing and the Counterculture in Making the Macintosh: Technology and the Culture in Silicon Valley Stanford University.
Numerous books on the subject also, including,
What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer by John Markoff
The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society and Its Youthful Opposition by Theodore Roszak.
