The Apple Lisa: Its Foundational Role in Modern GUI and Macintosh History

David Greelish

Summary:

The documentary chronicles the Apple Lisa, a revolutionary computer that debuted the graphical user interface (GUI) and mouse to the public before the Macintosh. Initially a commercial failure due to its steep price, the Lisa's innovations, heavily influenced by Xerox PARC, laid the groundwork for modern computing. After Apple struggled to sell it, the Lisa was rebranded as the Macintosh XL and eventually thousands of unsold units were famously buried to secure tax write-offs and avoid market competition with new Macs. However, companies like Sun Remarketing salvaged and upgraded many Lisas, extending their life. Today, the Lisa remains a highly prized collectible, with dedicated communities and independent engineers developing new components, ensuring its undeniable legacy in computing history.

Personal Connection and Discovery [0:13]

• The producer and director, David Greelish, recounts his personal history with the Apple Lisa.
  • In the fall of 1989, working at an Apple dealer in Gainesville, Florida, he aspired to buy a Macintosh but found even the cheapest model unaffordable at $1,600 (equivalent to $4,000 today).
  • He discovered the Apple Lisa (sometimes called Macintosh XL) when a customer brought one in for service, sparking his fascination with the unknown Apple computer.

    

  • After finding an advertisement from Sun Remarketing selling reconditioned Apple Lisas upgraded to run as Macs for $1,095, he purchased one in late 1989.
  • His Lisa became his first complete computer (with display, disk drive, and hard drive) and his first Macintosh.

The Lisa's Groundbreaking Genesis [4:50]

• Before the Apple Lisa, personal computing was dominated by command-line interfaces on monochrome screens, requiring arcane commands for every action, as shown on systems like the Apple II.

  

• The Lisa introduced revolutionary concepts that defined modern computing:
  • Bitmapped screens with icons and "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) displays.
  • The mouse for direct interaction, as detailed in patent documents.

    

  • Pull-down menus and windows.
• The development of the Lisa was heavily influenced by a visit to Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in November 1979.
  • Steve Jobs and a team of Apple engineers observed Xerox's Alto and Star systems, which featured graphical user interfaces.

    

    

    

    

  • Contrary to popular myth, Apple paid for the technology and visit; Xerox was not interested in commercializing it themselves.
• Key technical decisions and challenges during development:
  • The adoption of the Motorola 68000 16-bit processor, championed by engineer Rich Page, provided the necessary performance for sophisticated graphical software.

    

    

  • Bill Atkinson, the main user interface and graphics guy for Lisa, worked on making the full bitmapped display performant for real applications, contrasting vector and bitmapped graphics.

    

  • Early prototypes documented the evolution of the Lisa's UI, including proportional width fonts and overlapping windows, captured in Polaroids.

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

  • The Lisa OS was a true multitasking, object-oriented system, unlike the early Macintosh, which was single-application.

    

    

    

    

    

  • Extensive usability testing led to interface improvements, such as changing confusing "Do It" buttons to "Okay."

    

    

  • The Lisa development team was comprised of key individuals who built the groundbreaking system.

    

    

    

Market Challenges and Conversion to Macintosh XL [33:17]

• The Apple Lisa was introduced on January 19, 1983, at a very high price of $9,995, making it commercially unsuccessful for the average consumer, as seen in period advertisements.

  

  

  

  

  • High memory costs contributed to the Lisa's expensive price point.

    

• Due to poor sales and the imminent release of the more affordable Macintosh, the Lisa was updated to the "Lisa 2" in January 1984.

  

  • A fully configured Lisa 2/10 was priced at $5,495, and a cheaper Lisa 2/5 at $4,495, though without bundled software.
  • The Lisa 2/10 was rebranded as the "Macintosh XL" in January 1985 and shipped with MacWorks XL software, allowing it to run the Macintosh operating system.

    

    

    

  • Despite some improved sales as the Macintosh XL, Apple stopped production in April 1985, as it remained unprofitable, and officially discontinued the Lisa in August 1986.
• Compared to the Macintosh, the Lisa had advanced features the Mac lacked, but the Mac achieved a lower price point.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

The Lisa's Second Life After Apple [40:00]

• Bob Cook, former president of Sun Remarketing, an authorized Apple dealer since 1978, began selling refurbished Apple equipment, including early Apple IIs using cassette recorders.

  

  

  

• In 1986, Apple offered Sun Remarketing the unsold Lisa inventory.

  

  • Initially, the Lisas came with faulty Twiggy floppy drives and unreliable "widget" hard drives.

    

    

  • Sun Remarketing invested in developing a SCSI interface to use standard hard drives and replaced Twiggy drives with more reliable 3.5-inch Sony floppies.

    

    

  • They also burned custom ROMs to correct the Lisa's elongated pixel aspect ratio to match the Macintosh and enable MacWorks Plus, allowing Lisas to run like Macintosh Plus systems.

    

    

    

    

    

• Apple's infamous "Lisa burial" in September 1986 at the Logan City Landfill in Utah:
  • Apple recalled around 2,700 remaining Lisas from Sun Remarketing and other locations.
  • The computers were intentionally crushed by bulldozers and filmed, reportedly to allow Apple to claim a tax write-off and prevent competition from used machines.

    

    

    

  • Bob Cook was upset, witnessing the destruction and even trying to salvage parts.
• After the Lisa, Sun Remarketing continued with a "University Trading Program," selling nearly $100 million worth of pre-owned Apple equipment over 25 years before Apple eventually cut off parts supply under Steve Jobs's direction, who believed used products competed with new ones.

The Lisa's Enduring Legacy and Collectibility [1:09:12]

• The Apple Lisa has become a highly sought-after collectible, with the Lisa 1 being the second most valuable vintage computer after the Apple 1.
  • Its value ranges from $1,000 for a basic model to $2,500-$3,000 for a well-preserved one.
  • Even a book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," was famously written on a Lisa.

    

• The community of Lisa enthusiasts and collectors actively works to preserve and enhance these machines.
  • John Woodall, "The Last Lisa Dealer," acquired significant inventory of Lisas.

    

  • Independent engineers like James McFay developed "XLerator Utilities" and "MacWorks Plus 2" to run System 7 on the Lisa, significantly extending its usability.

    

    

    

    

    

    

  • John Woodall (VintageMicros.com) continues to sell parts and new replacement boards (e.g., X/ProFile solid-state storage, updated I/O and CPU boards) to keep Lisas operational and upgradable.

    

    

    

    

  • Different models of Lisa 1 and Lisa 2 had distinct internal configurations.

    

    

    

    • Common issues like battery corrosion on the IO board are now being addressed with new reproductions.

      

      

      

• The Lisa is seen as the direct ancestor of the Macintosh, embodying the core principles of the graphical user interface that became standard in personal computing, and was marketed at shows.

  

  

  

• For many collectors, owning and experiencing the physical hardware, with its unique sounds and boot processes, offers a connection to computing history and a deeper understanding of where modern interfaces originated.
  • The Lisa was designed for easy serviceability, a stark contrast to modern computers.

    

    

    

    

    

  • Modern enthusiasts also create innovative projects like working Lisa miniatures.

    

  • Even quirky software like "Gypsy: The Computer Oracle" highlighted the mouse-driven GUI.

    

    

Impact and Lessons Learned [1:31:00]

• Apple's decision to discontinue the Lisa was primarily due to its high price and the fact that its advanced features were "too early" for the available technology and market readiness.
• Steve Jobs, while a brilliant visionary, was not an engineer and often pushed boundaries beyond the laws of physics, leading to ambitious but sometimes premature products.
• The friction between the Lisa team and Steve Jobs (who was "uninvited" from the project) also contributed to its lack of internal support within Apple.
• The Macintosh, though a market success culturally, also faced initial business challenges due to its high price and only gained significant traction with the emergence of "killer applications" like desktop publishing.
  • The Apple II, surprisingly, remained Apple's primary profit center well into the 1980s and early 90s, demonstrating the market's slower adoption of GUI-based systems.
• Ultimately, many of the innovative ideas and technical decisions from the Lisa found their way into later Macintosh iterations, cementing its legacy as the "mother of our modern computing interface."
  • The Macintosh's lineage is directly tied to the Lisa, which served as its "prototype."

    

• The talent involved in the Lisa project went on to contribute significantly to other Apple innovations, including the Macintosh and the Newton, which eventually led to the ARM microprocessor found in modern smartphones.

  

  

• The overall history and significance of the Lisa is captured in a comprehensive display.