Read Online Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made by Andy Hertzfeld - Free Book Online
Authors: Andy Hertzfeld
Tags: General, Computers, Business & Economics, Operating Systems, Hardware, Industries, Computers & Information Technology, Workplace Culture, Research & Development, Macintosh
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build in as much flexibility as possible, as long as it didn't cost too much.
Burrell decided to add a single, simple slot to his Macintosh design, which made the processor's bus accessible to peripherals, that wouldn't cost very much, especially if it wasn't used. He worked out the details and proposed it at the weekly staff meeting, but Steve immediately nixed his proposal, stating that there was no way that the Mac would even have a single slot.
But Burrell was not that easily thwarted. He realized that the Mac was never going to have something called a slot, but perhaps the same functionality could be called something else. After talking it over with Brian, they decided to start calling it the "diagnostic port" instead of a slot, arguing that it would save money during manufacturing if testing devices could access the processor bus to diagnose manufacturing errors. They didn't mention that the same port would also provide the functionality of a slot.
This was received positively at first, but after a couple weeks, engineering manager Rod Holt caught on to what was happening, probably aided by occasional giggles when the diagnostic port was mentioned. "That things really a slot, right? You're trying to sneak in a slot!", Rod finally accused us at the next engineering meeting. "Well, that's not going to happen!"
Even though the diagnostic port was scuttled, it wasn't the last attempt at surreptitious hardware expandability. When the Mac digital board was redesigned for the last time in August 1982, the next generation of RAM chips was already on the horizon. The Mac used 16 64Kbit RAM chips, giving it 128K of memory. The next generation chip was 256Kbits, giving us 512K bytes instead, which made a huge difference.
Burrell was afraid the 128Kbyte Mac would seem inadequate soon after launch, and there were no slots for the user to add RAM. He realized that he could support 256Kbit RAM chips simply by routing a few extra lines on the PC board, allowing adventurous people who knew how to wield a soldering gun to replace their RAM chips with the newer generation. The extra lines would only cost pennies to add.
But once again, Steve Jobs objected, because he didn't like the idea of customers mucking with the innards of their computer. He would also rather have them buy a new 512K Mac instead of them buying more RAM from a third-party. But this time Burrell prevailed, because the change was so minimal. He just left it in there and no one bothered to mention it to Steve, much to the eventual benefit of customers, who didn't have to buy a whole new Mac to expand their memory.
Shut Up!
by Andy Hertzfeld in July 1981
This movie had a scene
based on this story
Apple had already learned the value of having a thriving third party software market with the Apple II, whose sales increased more than ten-fold when Visicalc, developed by a tiny company called Software Arts, caught on in the business market. The Macintosh intended to replicate the success of the Apple II as an industry standard platform, so it was very important to bring third party developers into the picture as soon as possible.
Microsoft was an obvious choice for one of the first companies for us to talk to. Both companies were started around the same time during the infancy of the personal computer industry, and they already had a business relationship, since Apple licensed Microsoft's Applesoft Basic for the Apple II. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were born in the same year and shared a similar vision for the potential of personal computers. Each one thought he was smarter than the other one, but Steve generally treated Bill as someone who was slightly inferior, especially in matters of taste and style. Bill looked down on Steve because he couldn't actually program.
Steve had mentioned the Macintosh project to Bill at an industry conference in April, which led to a meeting in Seattle in June, where Steve spun an intriguing vision of pumping out Macintoshes by the
Burrell decided to add a single, simple slot to his Macintosh design, which made the processor's bus accessible to peripherals, that wouldn't cost very much, especially if it wasn't used. He worked out the details and proposed it at the weekly staff meeting, but Steve immediately nixed his proposal, stating that there was no way that the Mac would even have a single slot.
But Burrell was not that easily thwarted. He realized that the Mac was never going to have something called a slot, but perhaps the same functionality could be called something else. After talking it over with Brian, they decided to start calling it the "diagnostic port" instead of a slot, arguing that it would save money during manufacturing if testing devices could access the processor bus to diagnose manufacturing errors. They didn't mention that the same port would also provide the functionality of a slot.
This was received positively at first, but after a couple weeks, engineering manager Rod Holt caught on to what was happening, probably aided by occasional giggles when the diagnostic port was mentioned. "That things really a slot, right? You're trying to sneak in a slot!", Rod finally accused us at the next engineering meeting. "Well, that's not going to happen!"
Even though the diagnostic port was scuttled, it wasn't the last attempt at surreptitious hardware expandability. When the Mac digital board was redesigned for the last time in August 1982, the next generation of RAM chips was already on the horizon. The Mac used 16 64Kbit RAM chips, giving it 128K of memory. The next generation chip was 256Kbits, giving us 512K bytes instead, which made a huge difference.
Burrell was afraid the 128Kbyte Mac would seem inadequate soon after launch, and there were no slots for the user to add RAM. He realized that he could support 256Kbit RAM chips simply by routing a few extra lines on the PC board, allowing adventurous people who knew how to wield a soldering gun to replace their RAM chips with the newer generation. The extra lines would only cost pennies to add.
But once again, Steve Jobs objected, because he didn't like the idea of customers mucking with the innards of their computer. He would also rather have them buy a new 512K Mac instead of them buying more RAM from a third-party. But this time Burrell prevailed, because the change was so minimal. He just left it in there and no one bothered to mention it to Steve, much to the eventual benefit of customers, who didn't have to buy a whole new Mac to expand their memory.
Shut Up!
by Andy Hertzfeld in July 1981
This movie had a scene
based on this story
Apple had already learned the value of having a thriving third party software market with the Apple II, whose sales increased more than ten-fold when Visicalc, developed by a tiny company called Software Arts, caught on in the business market. The Macintosh intended to replicate the success of the Apple II as an industry standard platform, so it was very important to bring third party developers into the picture as soon as possible.
Microsoft was an obvious choice for one of the first companies for us to talk to. Both companies were started around the same time during the infancy of the personal computer industry, and they already had a business relationship, since Apple licensed Microsoft's Applesoft Basic for the Apple II. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were born in the same year and shared a similar vision for the potential of personal computers. Each one thought he was smarter than the other one, but Steve generally treated Bill as someone who was slightly inferior, especially in matters of taste and style. Bill looked down on Steve because he couldn't actually program.
Steve had mentioned the Macintosh project to Bill at an industry conference in April, which led to a meeting in Seattle in June, where Steve spun an intriguing vision of pumping out Macintoshes by the
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