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Macintosh Office AI simulator
(@Macintosh Office_simulator)
Hub AI
Macintosh Office AI simulator
(@Macintosh Office_simulator)
Macintosh Office
The Macintosh Office was an effort by Apple Computer to design an office-wide computing environment consisting of Macintosh computers, a local area networking system, a file server, and a networked laser printer. Apple announced Macintosh Office in January 1985 with a poorly received sixty-second Super Bowl commercial dubbed Lemmings. In the end, the file server would never ship and the Office project would be cancelled. However, the AppleTalk networking system and LaserWriter printer would be hugely successful in launching the desktop publishing revolution.
Macintosh Office was the company's third attempt to enter into the business environment as a serious competitor to IBM.
Following the success of the Apple II personal computer, Apple first sought to enter into the lucrative professional business market with the Apple III. A high-end computer with features geared toward the business professional, it suffered from many technical problems which plagued the system during most of its production run. As a result, Apple's reputation suffered and it lost any advantage it had entering into the business market – a full year prior to the introduction of the IBM PC.
Apple's second attempt was with the introduction of the revolutionary Lisa, a high-end computer aimed at the business community, based on the graphical user interface that was to become the basis of the Macintosh. Unfortunately it proved far too expensive and offered too few features for most businesses to justify the cost. A year later when the much less expensive Macintosh debuted, Lisa's fate was sealed. After being renamed the Macintosh XL in an effort to revive sales, a year later production ended following less than three years of poor sales.
While Apple had a hit with the Macintosh, they still needed a way to make inroads into the professional world and the Mac was already being criticized as a toy by the business community.
Apple had initially examined local area networking through an effort known as AppleNet, which used Ethernet-like coax cable to support a 1 Mbit/s network of up to 128 Apple IIs, Apple IIIs and Apple Lisas. This was first announced at the National Computer Conference in Los Angeles in June 1983, but quietly dropped four months later. At the time, Apple commented that they "realized that it's not in the business to create a network system", and instead announced they would be waiting for IBM to release its Token Ring system in 1984.
This left Apple with no networking system until IBM released Token Ring. Internal work continued throughout, greatly aided by a series of memos from Bob Belleville, who outlined what the system would need to do and outlining the networking system, a networked laser printer, and a file server.
When the Macintosh had originally been designed it used the Zilog Z8530 serial driver chip, which had the capability of running simple networking protocols. The original aim was to produce a system known as AppleBus that would allow multiple devices to be plugged into a single port. The AppleBus concept had been dropped during development, but it left the systems with the hardware needed to support a local area network, all that was needed was the appropriate software. To address any short-term networking needs, Apple announced the development of a low-speed system running at 230 kbit/s. As the serial ports on the Macintosh were not connected in a ring, an external box (later known as LocalTalk) was used to provide "up" and "down" connections. The system was released in January 1985 as the "AppleTalk Personal Network".
Macintosh Office
The Macintosh Office was an effort by Apple Computer to design an office-wide computing environment consisting of Macintosh computers, a local area networking system, a file server, and a networked laser printer. Apple announced Macintosh Office in January 1985 with a poorly received sixty-second Super Bowl commercial dubbed Lemmings. In the end, the file server would never ship and the Office project would be cancelled. However, the AppleTalk networking system and LaserWriter printer would be hugely successful in launching the desktop publishing revolution.
Macintosh Office was the company's third attempt to enter into the business environment as a serious competitor to IBM.
Following the success of the Apple II personal computer, Apple first sought to enter into the lucrative professional business market with the Apple III. A high-end computer with features geared toward the business professional, it suffered from many technical problems which plagued the system during most of its production run. As a result, Apple's reputation suffered and it lost any advantage it had entering into the business market – a full year prior to the introduction of the IBM PC.
Apple's second attempt was with the introduction of the revolutionary Lisa, a high-end computer aimed at the business community, based on the graphical user interface that was to become the basis of the Macintosh. Unfortunately it proved far too expensive and offered too few features for most businesses to justify the cost. A year later when the much less expensive Macintosh debuted, Lisa's fate was sealed. After being renamed the Macintosh XL in an effort to revive sales, a year later production ended following less than three years of poor sales.
While Apple had a hit with the Macintosh, they still needed a way to make inroads into the professional world and the Mac was already being criticized as a toy by the business community.
Apple had initially examined local area networking through an effort known as AppleNet, which used Ethernet-like coax cable to support a 1 Mbit/s network of up to 128 Apple IIs, Apple IIIs and Apple Lisas. This was first announced at the National Computer Conference in Los Angeles in June 1983, but quietly dropped four months later. At the time, Apple commented that they "realized that it's not in the business to create a network system", and instead announced they would be waiting for IBM to release its Token Ring system in 1984.
This left Apple with no networking system until IBM released Token Ring. Internal work continued throughout, greatly aided by a series of memos from Bob Belleville, who outlined what the system would need to do and outlining the networking system, a networked laser printer, and a file server.
When the Macintosh had originally been designed it used the Zilog Z8530 serial driver chip, which had the capability of running simple networking protocols. The original aim was to produce a system known as AppleBus that would allow multiple devices to be plugged into a single port. The AppleBus concept had been dropped during development, but it left the systems with the hardware needed to support a local area network, all that was needed was the appropriate software. To address any short-term networking needs, Apple announced the development of a low-speed system running at 230 kbit/s. As the serial ports on the Macintosh were not connected in a ring, an external box (later known as LocalTalk) was used to provide "up" and "down" connections. The system was released in January 1985 as the "AppleTalk Personal Network".