Steve Jobs on the Macintosh Office: People Before Mainframes
What Jobs talks about
Jobs frames the Macintosh Office as the start of a longer transition, not a finished destination. He says it will take two years to earn their way into the office market.
He points to Macintosh software, AppleTalk, and the LaserWriter as the first bold step. The pitch is aimed at CEOs, MIS directors, department heads, and college provosts.
The core idea is a different vision of computing for the office: one that starts with people rather than mainframes. That contrast with IBM is the heart of the message.
Jobs speaks throughout.
In his words
“This is the beginning of the Macintosh office.”
“It's going to take us two years to earn our way into the office.”
“We've taken a very bold first step”
“Today will be the beginning of an alternative to IBM's vision of the office”
“An alternative that starts with people rather than mainframes.”
Key points
- The Macintosh Office is just the beginning, not the final product.
- Apple sees a two-year transition to win the office market.
- Macintosh software, AppleTalk, and LaserWriter are the first step.
- Apple is presenting a strategic window in the shift to a second stage of personal computing.
- The office should be built around people, not mainframes.
- Apple positions its vision as an alternative to IBM's.
Full transcript
This is the beginning of the Macintosh office. I say beginning because this isn't going to be the one hundred days of the Macintosh office. It's going to take us two years to earn our way into the office. We've taken a very bold first step with the products you've seen here today. Macintosh's new software, AppleTalk and the LaserWriter. And we have a strategic window during these next two transition years as we move from the first stage of personal computing into the second. History could give us no better opportunity. So today, you've heard our vision, and hundreds of CEOs, MIS directors, department heads, and college provosts will be hearing it in the next few months. Because if our vision and concepts are right, today will be the beginning of an alternative to IBM's vision of the office, an alternative that starts with people rather than mainframes.
Thank you very much.
Transcribed from the audio by speech recognition (Deepgram). Timestamps link to the video above. Errors are possible.