THE APPLE LISA COMPUTER: A RETROSPECTIVEPART 1 OF 7Here is a retrospective history of the Apple Lisa computer. Thought the
LisaList subscribers would find this interesting. The end of this paper
contains a large reference section which lists many Lisa documents. The
author (me) has a PDF version of this paper which includes several graphical
diagrams.This paper version appeared in The ANALYTICAL ENGINE, Newsletter of the
Computer History Association of California (CHAC), Volume 2, Number 1, July
1994.-------------------------------------------------THE APPLE LISA COMPUTER: A RETROSPECTIVE-------------------------------------------------(c) Copyright 1993 - David T. Craig (1)941 Calle Mejia # 1006Santa Fe, NM 87501 USAdcraig_at_cyberwolf.com71533.606_at_compuserve.comINTRODUCTION-------------------------------------------------This paper is an attempt by a long-time Lisa user to clarify thesignificance of the Apple Lisa personal computer for thecomputing industry. The audience is anyone who has an interestin innovative computing technology, and wants to learn a littleabout Apple Computer's brief foray into this area via the Lisacomputer.This paper hopes to show why the Lisa was significant in itstime, and how some of what was called "Lisa Technology" isslowly migrating to other computer systems, notably the AppleMacintosh computer series.The author has never worked for Apple, and so is not privy toany "insider secrets" about this machine. All informationcontained herein was obtained from Apple's cornucopia
of Lisaand Macintosh literature, from discussions with other Lisaowners, and through my personal involvement with and observationof both machines since 1984.This paper is loosely based upon the excellent article "TheLegacy of the Lisa" (MacWorld magazine, Sep. 1985) as written byMr. Larry Tesler, one of the Lisa's main designers and currentlyChief Scientist at Apple Computer.A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY-------------------------------------------------Apple began developing the Lisa in 1979. The Lisa's charter wasto build a revolutionary device that was truly easy to use, andthereby mitigate the limitations of existing computers.Developing a computer which was an order of magnitude easier touse than traditional computers required several majordepartures, not all of which were obvious.Even the name "Lisa" has always been rather enigmatic for mostcomputer users, including Lisa owners. To set the story straight(as far as I know) here are the facts: Officially, Apple statesthat "Lisa" stood for "Local Integrated Soft
w
are Architecture."Unofficially, "Lisa" has been associated with the name of achild fathered by one of the Lisa designers. (2)The Lisa had several design goals:* 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 based on sophisticated hardware technology. Thesingle compact desktop unit contained a 12-inch black-and-whitescreen, and two revolutionary floppy disk drives called "Twiggy"-- after the English supermodel of the day, because she, andthey, were so thin. The Lisa contained a Motorola 68000processor and 1 megabyte of memory, expandable to 2 megabytes.Cabled to the Lisa's case were a keyboard, and a (then) uncommonperipheral called a "mouse," which was a key element of theLisa's design.Apple introduced the Lisa to the general public in January 1983at a price of $9,995. In April 1985, after o
nly one and a halfyears, Apple discontinued the Lisa in favor of its sibling, theMacintosh.Lisa development was a tremendous undertaking for Apple andbasically required most of the company's resources, bothfinancial and personal. Apple reports that Lisa cost $50 millionto develop and required 200 man-years of development effort. Thestory behind the development is fascinating and should be morefully recorded, but this paper can provide only a "Reader'sDigest" version of the development history; a more completehistory can only be written by the developers themselves, andthis author, sadly, believes that such a treatment will neversee the light of day.The Lisa may be considered a computer that sprang from the loinsof a host of predecessor systems, and many of its"revolutionary" ideas were not really new -- notwithstanding thecries of Apple marketers, who think everything Apple does isnew. Work by many computer companies over decades (yes, decades)was drawn on by Apple to design the Lisa. For example, Appleborro
w
ed several key ideas from Xerox and its early Alto system.In 1979 Mr. John Couch, Apple's head of software, was madeGeneral Manager of a new Apple division called POS, PersonalOffice Systems. Mr. Couch's charter was to develop and promotethe Lisa for the office system market, and provide a return onApple's substantial Lisa investment.From meager beginnings, POS blossomed into a 300-persondivision, with around 100 people devoted to the software andhardware development effort. The Lisa had begun as a ratherhumdrum text based system, not a good sign for a "revolutionary"computer. Couch assembled a team of very talented people fromwithin Apple and throughout Silicon Valley. After some fieldtrips to neighboring Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), thedevelopers (and some ex-PARC people who became Apple employees)embarked upon what became the Lisa computer as known to thepublic. Perhaps the key change at this point was the migrationfrom a text-based system to a window-based system inspired byXerox's Smalltalk d
evelopment environment.Apple unveiled the Lisa in late 1982 to selected outsiders. On19 January 1983, after repeated delays and two years beyond theoriginally projected introduction date, Apple officiallydeclared Lisa a working system that would be deliverable in May1983. Apple at this time hoped to mark the beginning of a newera in personal computers & establish the software technologystandard of the 80's.Apple's comprehensive Lisa introduction also included a suite ofrevolutionary and sophisticated programs called the Lisa OfficeSystem (later renamed "Lisa 7/7" by Apple). This suite consistedof 7 general application programs -- LisaWrite, LisaDraw,LisaCalc, LisaGraph, LisaProject, LisaList, and LisaTerminal --and was bolstered by extensive well-written documentation and aninnovative self-paced training course for new Lisa owners, basedupon the LisaGuide program, which Apple called an "interactivemanual." For hardware diagnostic purposes Apple provided theLisaTest program, though Apple appears to have d
i
scontinued therelease of this program to owners in favor of referring them tothe local friendly Apple dealer for Lisa servicing. For a user"operating system" Apple created the Desktop Manager. Thisprogram was a file organizer and program manager which createdthe illusion of a "desktop," on which users could place, move,rename, and delete files, and run programs.END OF PART 1
> Regards,
> David T. Craig
>
> ###########################################################
> # David T. Craig -- CyberWolf Inc. -- ACI 4D Developer #5
> # Aspen Plaza, 1596 Pacheco, Suite 203
> # Santa Fe, NM 87505 USA
> # voice 505.983.6463 ext 15 -- fax 505.988.2580
> # dcraig_at_email.domain.hidden
> ###########################################################
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Received on 2001-01-04 16:28:35