Craig The Legacy Of The Apple Lisa Personal Computer An Outsiders View

The Legacy of the Apple Lisa Personal Computer: An Outsider's View (c) Copyright 1993 - David T. Craig 941 Calle Mejia #1006, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 USA (505) 820-0358 736 Edgewater, Wichita, Kansas 67230 USA (316) 733-0914 e-mail: 71533.606@compuserve.com 16 February 1993 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction A Little Bit of History Lisa Technology Macintosh XL, MacWorks, Lisa-to-Mac Migration Kit Macintosh: Back to the Future Macintosh System 7 Lisa Dedication References Summary The Legacy of the Apple Lisa Personal Computer: An Outsider's View • 16 February 1993 • 1 / 18 • INTRODUCTION • This paper is an attempt by a long time Lisa user to clarify the significance of the Apple Lisa personal computer for the computing industry. The audience of this paper is anyone who has an interest in innovative computing technology and wants to learn a little about Apple Computer's brief foray into this area via the Lisa computer. This paper hopes to show why the Lisa was significant in its time and how some of what was called "Lisa Technology" is slowly migrating to other computer systems, mainly the Apple Macintosh computer series. The author has never worked for Apple and as such is not privy to any insider secrets about this machine. All facts contained herein were obtained from Apple's cornucopia of Lisa literature, Apple's Macintosh literature, discussions with other Lisa owners, and my personal involvement with and close observations of both machines since 1984. This paper is loosely based upon the excellent article "The Legacy of the Lisa" (MacWorld magazine, Sep. 1985) as written by Mr. Larry Tesler, one of the Lisa's main designers and currently a key technologist at Apple Computer. • A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY • Apple began developing the Lisa computer in 1979. The Lisa charter was to build a revolutionary computer that was truly easy to use and thereby mitigate the limitations of existing computers. Developing a computer which was an order of magnitude easier to use than traditional computers required several major departures. The name "Lisa" has always been rather enigmatic for most computer users, including Lisa owners. To set the story straight (as far as I know) here are the facts behind the name "Lisa". Officially, Apple states that "Lisa" stood for Local Integrated Software Architecture. Unofficially, "Lisa" has been associated with the name of a child fathered by one of the Lisa designers (this may be the same person who is now head of Next Computer, Inc., Mr. Steve Jobs). The Lisa had several design goals: o o o o o o o Be intuitive, be consistent, conform to the ways people actually work, have enough performance to do the jobs that need doing, provide an open software and hardware architecture, be reliable, be pleasing and fit into an everyday work environment. The Lisa was built upon sophisticated hardware technology. This included a compact desktop unit containing a 12 inch black-and-white screen, and two revolutionary floppy disk driv…