1981 Cupertino

September 1981, InfoWorld magazine announced the IBM PC, and then mentioned 3 machines were coming from Apple Computer.

One was designed to compete with Xerox's PC, the "Star". Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center ("PARC") was humanizing the experience of computing. Xerox was designing the future of computing.

In 1979, Steve Jobs paid Apple company stock to Xerox for 2 visits by his people to see demos. He wanted to build the future too.

What the Apple team saw was enough to launch a new flagship project. They finished interface design in 6 months, and then did the hardware, OS, and apps at the same time. The team went from a handful to 90+, not including sales.

It was to be their big win.

It was the first PC with a graphical user interface for sale. Despite using a chip with a slower clock, with cutting edge multi-tasking GUI software, the slower PC was rated higher than the IBM PC in productivity. The largest customer was NASA. It was cutting edge.

The big problem was the price versus the cost. The company sold 10,000 units at $9,995 USD, for a total revenue of $100M USD (1983 dollars). They spent $150M USD building it. In 1982, Steve Jobs was forced out of the "Lisa" project by the Board.

Jobs denied the inspiration for the name but told a biographer that "of course" this expensive machine was named for his daughter.

Jobs soon took over another Apple project, which was positioned as the "sub-$1000" PC. It borrowed many elements of the "Lisa" but was not as sophisticated. It was same enough. The "Macintosh”. In 1984, the "Macintosh" was released - a massive success. It borrowed from the "Lisa" GUI and hired most of its people.

The work on “Lisa” lived on in same enough projects in new ways. By 1986, Lisa and Lisa-based PC owners were offered a trade in. 2,700 unsold Lisas are in a landfill. Same enough machines kept selling.

2873 Mars

Fernanda brought the last of the spirits bottled by old neighbors. She filled two glasses.

"Lady Germaine, to your health."

"Thank you my dear. You have many questions and I will answer them before you ask. We have lost... sons and daughters for a long time. We almost forgot why we were at war. Now, the "boxes", the machines, have stopped the war. Such a nickname, "boxes". Many were made by man in the image of man. Almost as if we made new children to replace the ones we lost to war. Now, we must turn our minds and hearts to what we control, our time, energy, our lives to living."

"That is why you are here?"

"I think you already knew the war had ended before most of us. You are trying to replace war with peace, with what you have called a “long party”. But I think you need help. You are new to peace and parties. I have lived through both. I have done the kind of things you have done, when I was young. And I want to use what I know to help you do this.”

"I thought I would be polite and then refuse your kind offer, Lady Germaine, but I recognize when someone knows what they're talking about, and that they know how to do what they're talking about. I still want to know the reason why. You don't know me, you don't owe me anything. Until 10 minutes ago, I didn't know you."

Lady Germaine smiled and then reached into her coat pocket.

She removed a small item. It looked familiar. Fernanda recognized it. The last time she saw it, she held it in the Valley that she and June escaped many months ago. It belonged to her "Number 2" in the service, "Trusty", her friend.

"I loved my child, and he spoke about you, the "Gunny" who saved his life and many others during the war. You spent more time with my boy than I had in such a long time. I think this is a chance for both of us to start over, even the starting over of starting over. To get it working."

1981 Cupertino

September 1981, InfoWorld magazine announced the IBM PC, and then mentioned 3 machines were coming from Apple Computer.

One was designed to compete with Xerox's PC, the "Star". Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center ("PARC") was humanizing the experience of computing. Xerox was designing the future of computing.

In 1979, Steve Jobs paid Apple company stock to Xerox for 2 visits by his people to see demos. He wanted to build the future too.

What the Apple team saw was enough to launch a new flagship project. They finished interface design in 6 months, and then did the hardware, OS, and apps at the same time. The team went from a handful to 90+, not including sales.

It was to be their big win.

It was the first PC with a graphical user interface for sale. Despite using a chip with a slower clock, with cutting edge multi-tasking GUI software, the slower PC was rated higher than the IBM PC in productivity. The largest customer was NASA. It was cutting edge.

The big problem was the price versus the cost. The company sold 10,000 units at $9,995 USD, for a total revenue of $100M USD (1983 dollars). They spent $150M USD building it. In 1982, Steve Jobs was forced out of the "Lisa" project by the Board.

Jobs denied the inspiration for the name but told a biographer that "of course" this expensive machine was named for his daughter.

Jobs soon took over another Apple project, which was positioned as the "sub-$1000" PC. It borrowed many elements of the "Lisa" but was not as sophisticated. It was same enough. The "Macintosh”. In 1984, the "Macintosh" was released - a massive success. It borrowed from the "Lisa" GUI and hired most of its people.

The work on “Lisa” lived on in same enough projects in new ways. By 1986, Lisa and Lisa-based PC owners were offered a trade in. 2,700 unsold Lisas are in a landfill. Same enough machines kept selling.

2873 Mars

Fernanda brought the last of the spirits bottled by old neighbors. She filled two glasses.

"Lady Germaine, to your health."

"Thank you my dear. You have many questions and I will answer them before you ask. We have lost... sons and daughters for a long time. We almost forgot why we were at war. Now, the "boxes", the machines, have stopped the war. Such a nickname, "boxes". Many were made by man in the image of man. Almost as if we made new children to replace the ones we lost to war. Now, we must turn our minds and hearts to what we control, our time, energy, our lives to living."

"That is why you are here?"

"I think you already knew the war had ended before most of us. You are trying to replace war with peace, with what you have called a “long party”. But I think you need help. You are new to peace and parties. I have lived through both. I have done the kind of things you have done, when I was young. And I want to use what I know to help you do this.”

"I thought I would be polite and then refuse your kind offer, Lady Germaine, but I recognize when someone knows what they're talking about, and that they know how to do what they're talking about. I still want to know the reason why. You don't know me, you don't owe me anything. Until 10 minutes ago, I didn't know you."

Lady Germaine smiled and then reached into her coat pocket.

She removed a small item. It looked familiar. Fernanda recognized it. The last time she saw it, she held it in the Valley that she and June escaped many months ago. It belonged to her "Number 2" in the service, "Trusty", her friend.

"I loved my child, and he spoke about you, the "Gunny" who saved his life and many others during the war. You spent more time with my boy than I had in such a long time. I think this is a chance for both of us to start over, even the starting over of starting over. To get it working."