"Never trust a computer you can't lift."

Fred D'Ignazio was at the Boston Computer Society Meeting January 30, 1984 where Apple's Macintosh was introduced to the world.

"Now it's time to meet Mac in person."

With a theatrical flourish, Jobs unzipped the fabric case and lifted the Macintosh out of the bag. An instant later he had connected the power cord, the keyboard, and the mouse.

He switched on the computer. The screen over Jobs' head turned sky blue. "All the images you see," he said, "are generated by the Mac."

Jobs looked at the blank screen. "Ah, yes," he said. "We need a disk." He reached in his shirt pocket and pulled a tiny 3 1/2-inch disk out and waved it at the audience.

Jobs inserted the disk in the computer. The letters M - A - C - I - N - T - O - S - H marched one by one, across the Mac's screen and across the giant screen above the stage. The letters marched in time to the theme from Chariots of Fire that blared from the stage's gigantic speakers.

"And now," Steve said, "'a word from Mac." He gestured to the computer.

Mac came suddenly to life. "Thank you, Steve," it said. Its voice was mechanical and computer-like, but it was easy to understand and strangely imbued with personality.

I was there too.

Thanks Jack for posting about this today.

Don't forget about Lisa.