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Mister Macintosh (2004)

folklore.org

11–20 of 59 posts

Re: Mister Macintosh (2004)

#11

I wouldn't have liked this. I don't want any part of my computer to be eerie or mysterious. I also don't want there to be anything romantic or mysterious about my bank account. If this had been deployed and its existence has been widely publicized and described right after its deployment (which seems likely to me even if Apple tried to suppress it) the only deleterious effect on me would have been my wasting a little…

If you wanted safe and predictable you could buy an IBM PC. Apple was trying to be something different.

Re: Mister Macintosh (2004)

#12
Sorry for my nonsense...I always get excited when I saw a post about a classic/PowerPC Macintosh (I don't like the colorful ones, though).

I have never owned, used, or seen other people used one in real life. I have only seen them in YouTube videos and in articles such as this one. I don't know why I'm so excited about these cuboid machines.

I need to grab an emulator and install some toolchain to work on it.

Re: Mister Macintosh (2004)

#13
post #8

Sort of like a reverse Clippy, which you do find easily and wish you wouldn't. Generally speaking, programs used to have more Easter eggs. I can't recall a single one in the cloud era. The only one remotely whimsical is PostHog.

"I can't recall a single one in the cloud era ..."

Our PCI compliance page is an easter egg:

https://www.rsync.net/resources/regulatory/pci.html

Re: Mister Macintosh (2004)

#14
post #8

Sort of like a reverse Clippy, which you do find easily and wish you wouldn't. Generally speaking, programs used to have more Easter eggs. I can't recall a single one in the cloud era. The only one remotely whimsical is PostHog.

Fail Whale and other 404 messages were decent examples.

Re: Mister Macintosh (2004)

#15

Sorry for my nonsense...I always get excited when I saw a post about a classic/PowerPC Macintosh (I don't like the colorful ones, though). I have never owned, used, or seen other people used one in real life. I have only seen them in YouTube videos and in articles such as this one. I don't know why I'm so excited about these cuboid machines. I need to grab an emulator and install some toolchain to work on it.

Just visit Infinite Mac and use them in your browser:

https://infinitemac.org/

Re: Mister Macintosh (2004)

#16

The artist, Folon, also made this gorgeous close-down animation for French TV channel Antenne 2: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzy9GGbcvSI&pp=0gcJCRsBo7VqN5t... Wikipedia bio: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Folon

And here is Mr. Macintosh, himself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Folon#/media/File:...

Re: Mister Macintosh (2004)

#17

Texaco Towers was an Apple office above a Texaco gas station: https://www.folklore.org/Texaco_Towers.html

Strictly speaking, it was a two-story building behind the Texaco station:

> There was a Texaco gas station at the corner, and a two-story, small, brown, wood paneled office building behind it, the kind that might house some accountants or insurance agents. Apple rented the top floor, which had four little suites split by a corridor, two on a side. Because of the proximity of the gas station and the perch on the second story, as well as the sonic overlap between "Taco" and "Texaco", the building quickly became known as "Texaco Towers".

I also enjoyed the reference to Cicero's Pizza:

> Burell and I [Andy] liked to have lunch at Cicero's Pizza, which was an old Cupertino restaurant that was just across the street. They had a Defender video game, which we'd play while waiting for our order. We'd also go to Cicero's around 4pm almost every day for another round of Defender playing; Burrell was getting so good he would play for the entire time on a single quarter (see Make a Mess, Clean it Up!).

Now I get to admit my age. When I worked at Tymshare in the 1970s, we often went there when it was still named Coppola's Pizza.

It had previously been part of the Pee Wee's Pizza chain founded by Albert "Pee Wee" Proietti and Nunzio "Spike" Spacone. The Cupertino location was sold to Carmen and Palma Coppola, who named it Coppola's. They in turn sold it to their mother and father-in-law, Angelina and Nunzio Cicero. (Yes, another Nunzio.)

Nunzio Cicero kept the Coppola's name out of respect to Angelina's family name, and only after she passed in 1973 he named it after himself.

Cicero's Pizza moved a couple of times after that and is still in business on Bollinger Road in Cupertino.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SanJoseHistory/posts/3134634...

One fun thing about Coppola's/Cicero's is that they brought out the sliced pizza on a big round tray, but did not give out individual plates. Instead, you put a few napkins on the table and that was your plate!

As you can imagine, the tables got a fine layer of pizza grease over time.

Another Cupertino landmark around the corner from Coppola's/Cicero's was the R. Cali Brothers Mill on Stevens Creek. This was a huge animal feed mill and drive-through store. The front entrance sign said: “R. Cali & Bro. — Cupertino Feed Store, Ranch Spray Service, General Truck Hauling, Wood • Coal, Hay • Grain.”

You could drive your truck through to load it up with farm supplies, or take your car through as I did to get dog food.

Re: Mister Macintosh (2004)

#18

I wouldn't have liked this. I don't want any part of my computer to be eerie or mysterious. I also don't want there to be anything romantic or mysterious about my bank account. If this had been deployed and its existence has been widely publicized and described right after its deployment (which seems likely to me even if Apple tried to suppress it) the only deleterious effect on me would have been my wasting a little…

definitely seems like some people would have perceived it as a virus having infected their computer, although 1984 was pretty early for virii

Re: Mister Macintosh (2004)

#19
post #6

I bring this story up all the time. It's tragic that it was never implemented! I know you could read it as a story about CEO capriciousness, but to me it highlights how far Steve was willing to go to make the Mac playful and enjoyable. Back then, even the idea of dragging a file into a little trashcan was delightful.

they could’ve implemented it in the 128k rom but I think jobs was gone by then

Re: Mister Macintosh (2004)

#20
post #15

Sorry for my nonsense...I always get excited when I saw a post about a classic/PowerPC Macintosh (I don't like the colorful ones, though). I have never owned, used, or seen other people used one in real life. I have only seen them in YouTube videos and in articles such as this one. I don't know why I'm so excited about these cuboid machines. I need to grab an emulator and install some toolchain to work on it.

Just visit Infinite Mac and use them in your browser: https://infinitemac.org/

Thanks, I used it a few times but not sure how good it persists data -- I guess it's fine since it gives users some extra space. This is a good option for exploration.
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