As the Mac turns 40, a tip of the hat to Mr. Macintosh | TechCrunch

Image Credit: Apic/Getty Images The Apple Macintosh was first released on January 24, 1984 – 40 years ago today. The Folon Foundation shared a little-known legend: That Steve Jobs once ordered the Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon to come up with an image that would “be” on any machine and surprise the owner: Mr. Macintosh, also known as Mac Man. Mac creator Andy Hertzfeld remembered hearing an idea from Steve Jobs in 1982 in these words: “Mr. Macintosh is a mysterious little boy who lives inside every Macintosh. He appears from time to time, when you least expect it, and then he points at you and disappears again. It will be so quick that you won't be sure if you saw him or not. We will plant in the books the legend of Mr. Macintosh, and no one will know whether it is real or not.” It could be several months before Folon enters the picture, Hertzfeld wrote. “The software team was full of critical tasks, so we delayed the launch of the Macintosh for a while.” But when we met Folon, “whose work was filled with humor, deep interest that [Steve Jobs] I think it would be good for Mr. Macintosh, “The co-founder of Apple invited the artist to “visit the Mac group in Cupertino to show a demonstration and a possible project.” The project did not pass, but as Hertzfeld wrote, it was not because Folon and Apple did not pass. “Folon was seen happy with the embryonic Macintosh” he saw in 1982, and visited Cupertino again in 1983 to show his drawings to the team. But Apple eventually had to give up his Mr. Macintosh ambitions “because of the lack of ROM, disk space and time development.” However, it is still a great piece of Mac history that also makes important collections, such as the buttons that Apple made from some of Folon's designs and presented at trade shows, his Mac design, or the one that was already sold. a letter showing that he and Jobs remained friendly.
Additional Images: Digibarn Computer Museum These items are extremely rare, but you can find solace in digging for links and images. The original Mac board with Folon's Mac Man written next to his logo is a personal favorite.

Author: OpenAI