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An Apple Lisa documentary in 2019?

C

classiccomputing

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Hello everyone, I would like to formally announce my intention to begin the production of a documentary about the Apple Lisa. Yes, Douglas Engelbart's work and the Xerox Alto/Star workstations were the progenitors of the GUI, but the Apple Lisa was clearly the "grandmother" and foundation for what we all use today -- Macintosh -- Windows -- iOS -- Android.

I'm building a list of people to try and interview, but I'm looking for any suggestions. I will want to interview some of the famous team members, but also software developers, original owners, enthusiast and collectors.

I will create a teaser trailer within a few months and then launch a crowdfunding effort to fund travel to interview, etc. Thanks!

Best,

David Greelish
Computer Historian & Writer

http://www.classiccomputing.com/CC/About_Me.html

Buy a copy of my computer history nostalgia book!

http://www.classiccomputing.com/CC/My_Book.html
 
Why just the one machine? Why not apples whole take on the Gui from Xerox PARC to the MAC 128, you can make the majority of it about the Lisa, but the body of work would explain Apples who implementation of a GUI.
 
VERAULT said:
Why just the one machine? Why not apples whole take on the Gui from Xerox PARC to the MAC 128, you can make the majority of it about the Lisa, but the body of work would explain Apples who implementation of a GUI.
Click to expand...

PARC and the Mac have been talked to death.
The Lisa has had a stigma about it ever since Jobs killed the Lisa division.
When I was there, no one really wanted to admit they had worked on it, and
they would rarely talk about what they did.

It's only been since the late 90's, in particular the talks Larry Tesler and Chris Espinosa
gave about Lisa UI development that people began to talk about it again.
 
I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that the Lisa is what everything now is based upon.

However, if the Lisa hadn't been cancelled, it sure would have been. We might not even have Windows.
 
KC9UDX said:
I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that the Lisa is what everything now is based upon.

However, if the Lisa hadn't been cancelled, it sure would have been. We might not even have Windows.
Click to expand...

Nah. Apple is a big niche company. Always was and always will be. They're about margins, not volume. Even if IBM and Microsoft hadn't created the PC and Apple somehow got 80% of the market (which given the price of a Lisa is simply impossible), someone would have created their own version of the PC, or something like it. Apple's prices are just too tempting a target. Someone somewhere would have said, 'yeah, we can do that for a lot less'. Just like Google et. al did with Android. The only way that wouldn't come to pass is if Apple had released control over the hardware. But then they wouldn't be Apple.
 
Personally I'd love to see a good quality documentary about the Lisa. I don't know if there's enough material for an hour-plus, but certainly there are some interesting insights. The Lisa is a useful reminder that Steve Jobs was not a good and did occasionally strike out, even after Apple was a going concern.
 
falter said:
Nah. Apple is a big niche company. Always was and always will be. They're about margins, not volume. Even if IBM and Microsoft hadn't created the PC and Apple somehow got 80% of the market (which given the price of a Lisa is simply impossible), someone would have created their own version of the PC, or something like it. Apple's prices are just too tempting a target. Someone somewhere would have said, 'yeah, we can do that for a lot less'. Just like Google et. al did with Android. The only way that wouldn't come to pass is if Apple had released control over the hardware. But then they wouldn't be Apple.
Click to expand...

Point being that if the Lisa was on the market, we wouldn't have been stuck with single-tasking MS-DOS, and Windows, and MacOS and then silly-tasking pre-2K Windows, for decades. We'd have had Lisa and Lisa-competitors by 1986. Sure Apple's pricing would have kept them struggling but Lisa still would have changed computing. Of course, Xerox could've done it much earlier if only they had the impetus.
 
KC9UDX said:
Point being that if the Lisa was on the market, we wouldn't have been stuck with single-tasking MS-DOS, and Windows, and MacOS and then silly-tasking pre-2K Windows, for decades. We'd have had Lisa and Lisa-competitors by 1986. Sure Apple's pricing would have kept them struggling but Lisa still would have changed computing. Of course, Xerox could've done it much earlier if only they had the impetus.
Click to expand...

That would have involved the Lisa being something it wasn't - inexpensive and fast. I love my Lisa as a museum piece, but as a computer, it sucks. And sucks is not something you want when you're spending almost twice the price of a new car. I think it says something when a company finds it more economic to literally bury 2700 of the things than try to recoup a bit of money selling them at a loss.
 
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Come to think of it, I think a must-do for this documentary is an archaeological dig at the Lisa dump site. That would surely get some gofundme dollars to help get the project going, like the ET cartridge quest. Assuming it wasn't illegal.
 
falter said:
Come to think of it, I think a must-do for this documentary is an archaeological dig at the Lisa dump site.
Click to expand...
And then you would have some footage to document your time in jail for trespassing! :D :p
 
Haha.

I'm not sure what the legality would be. I don't remember if the ET cart diggers had to ask for permission or if they had some sort of legal fight they won. I wonder who would come after you over a bunch of smashed and buried Lisas.
 
[Edit: Too off topic? Ok, never mind. Hope to see the trailer when it comes out, thanks]
 
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I’d love to see a detailed look at the UI of the Lisa. It had some features that weren’t available for decades on other platforms. I think the Lisa is severely under appreciated wrt to UI innovation.
 
VERAULT said:
Why just the one machine? Why not apples whole take on the Gui from Xerox PARC to the MAC 128, you can make the majority of it about the Lisa, but the body of work would explain Apples who implementation of a GUI.
Click to expand...

Why the Apple Lisa? Because I believe it to be a pivotal platform/machine to where we all are today in personal computing. It's story is past due. The film will touch on other computers, concepts and people though, like Vannevar Bush, J. C. R. Licklider, Ivan Sutherland, Douglas Engelbart, Xerox PARC's work and of course the Mac.
 
Al Kossow said:
PARC and the Mac have been talked to death.
The Lisa has had a stigma about it ever since Jobs killed the Lisa division.
When I was there, no one really wanted to admit they had worked on it, and
they would rarely talk about what they did.

It's only been since the late 90's, in particular the talks Larry Tesler and Chris Espinosa
gave about Lisa UI development that people began to talk about it again.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree. I am trying to get interviews with both men.
 
KC9UDX said:
I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that the Lisa is what everything now is based upon.

However, if the Lisa hadn't been cancelled, it sure would have been. We might not even have Windows.
Click to expand...

Well, right, everything is not "based" on the Lisa, but it was the first truly mainstream (granted, still expensive), commercially available GUI personal computer. It certainly inspired and ignited that market, inside of Apple, but also outside to the likes of Microsoft, Digital Research, VisiCorp and others.
 
falter said:
Personally I'd love to see a good quality documentary about the Lisa. I don't know if there's enough material for an hour-plus, but certainly there are some interesting insights. The Lisa is a useful reminder that Steve Jobs was not a good and did occasionally strike out, even after Apple was a going concern.
Click to expand...

Good points, but it will also show how much of the good stuff was contained within the Lisa OS. Ironically too, the rebadged Lisa, the "Macintosh XL," began selling fairly well before Jobs killed it in 1985. This film will contain some tech details, but I am primarily a cultural historian, so there are plenty of stories to tell to fill 90 - 100 minutes. I expect a good 30 minutes dedicated to what happened after it was cancelled, with SunRemarketing, then collectors, enthusiasts and restorers.
 
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