Re: The Lisa - It Works the Way You Do

Thanks for sharing this video, Ray! Kudos on having a VCR in working order :-)

I was especially interested in one bit of screen detail that the video shows.

I've been interested in an unusual video artifact that I've always noticed on my Lisas. Ordinarily, the video looks pretty good, but sometimes it looks like the display can be affected when certain video patterns (like scroll bars) appear all the way over on the right-hand side of the screen. It seems like it can throw off the timing of where pixels appear horizontally on the screen.

Here are some pictures to show what I mean. In all of these, ignore the dark diagonal bands---those are the fault of my phone's camera.

1. This is an ordinary scroll bar: https://photos.app.goo.gl/58pYP5wSfC0bjAn62
2. This is what happens when you move it to the right-hand side of the screen: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hnTu1ZCieGDHYTs22
3. All screen rows where the scroll bar touches the right screen edge show a "vertical jitter": https://photos.app.goo.gl/9ALhMXvvr9eXYYKi2

In fact, the striping you see in the scroll bar in picture 2 is just another side-effect of the vertical jitter.

Both of my (recapped) Lisas do this, and so does one that belongs to a friend. I wondered whether the problem had to do with some other components getting old. But now, look at this video close-up

https://youtu.be/vZnI5Ci06OY?t=8m39s

It kinda looks like the 1983 Lisa has the same scroll bar striping that you see in my second picture. Maybe this was always a problem? Their Lisa: it distorts video the way mine do.

Do other people's Lisas do this?

Anyway, pretty classic "there's got to be a better way!!' style ad video. Kinda looked to me like Mark was the junior partner, though! Hang in there, Mark, someday you'll get an office with a window too...

--Tom

On Saturday, April 21, 2018 at 5:17:38 PM UTC+1, Ray Arachelian wrote:
>
> I just uploaded this 12 minute Lisa informercial here:
> https://youtu.be/vZnI5Ci06OY
> There is a similarly titled brochure on bitsavers/archive.org:
>
>
> -
> https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_applelisabTheWayYouDoMay83_11926418
> -
> http://bitsavers.org/pdf/apple/brochures/Lisa/Lisa_It_Works_The_Way_You_Do_May83.pdf
>
> This is similar to other Lisa commercials on youtube like these:
>
>
> - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7YkTu5geuc
> - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st169iawowM
> - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUF62i3-sn0
> - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QaPHf0t5ec
> - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W35vpsPIwlU
>
>
> Unlike the above vids, this one feels much earlier, and rough around the
> edge, as if it were a beta. There's lot of technical jargon such as using
> "elevator" for the scroll bar box, documents getting hidden behind other
> document windows, and ProFile as a file cabinet...
>
> There's even flying yellow Lisa icons that magically transform into a Lisa
> on a desk...
>
> I'm not sure if this video was actually released.
>
> I'm curious if anyone here has any knowledge about the history/background
> of this video.
>
>
> The story goes like this:
>
> There are two agencies trying to make proposals, one does the old
> fashioned way, the other by using the Lisa.
>
> In the process, a skeptical/tech phobic exec, Mark, gets schooled by his
> brilliant assistant on how to achieve great things with the Lisa 1 on his
> desktop and she helps him through multiple apps including a spreadsheet
> he's scared of using...
>
> Of course the Lisa using team wins the bid, while the other guys who were
> fumbling with actual cutting and pasting using scissors and tape, and a
> triangle and white out lose out.
>
> There's quite a lot of skeumorphism at use there. Sort of like really old
> scifi movies where they try to explain everything to people used to a horse
> and buggy level of technology. :-D
>
> There's some lame silliness at the end with a Bogart line, a failed
> attempt at humor, maybe.
>
> Not sure if BVI existed in the 1980s but the document is called VBI or
> maybe it's aimed at some other Ad agency.
>
> I'm not sure what the actual history of this video is. I found this VHS
> tape on ebay and while the price was insane, after looking a bunch of times
> on youtube and couldn't find the same video, I decided to risk buying it,
> and sure enough it is a totally new thing.
>
>
> Anyway, hope you guys enjoy it. :)
>

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