It’s been two decades since the Macintosh first burst on the scene with the famous Ridley Scott-directed advertisement during the 1984 SuperBowl. The Mac’s 20th anniversary seems poised to set the tone for Apple’s product plans in 2004, if some of Steve Jobs’ comments during his keynote address at Macworld Conference & Expo earlier this month are any indication. Now it’s the subject of a recent ” Talk of the Nation ” program on National Public Radio (NPR), which you can listen to online — if you have Windows Media Player or RealOne Player installed.
Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan starts out recounting the impact of that one advertisement, as well as the revolution in personal computing that would follow with the Macintosh’s release. Conan and guests discuss the history of the Macintosh and its impact not only on computing but on design in countless different industries as well.
The Talk of the Nation Web page also links to related coverage, as well. NPR recently offered some other coverage of the 20th anniversary of the Mac; NPR offered coverage of iTunes for Windows when it was released last year; NPR commentator (and poet/writer) Andrei Codrescu once opined about a mythical “MacWorld” filled with Mac-things; and some color commentary from one Mac enthusiast about the end of the Happy Mac screen that harkened with the release of Jaguar.