Andy Hertzfeld, who worked on the original Apple Macintosh, has posted a never-before-broadcast advert for the computer on YouTube.
The 1983 ad features clips from interviews with members of the original Macintosh team. It was deemed too self-congratulatory by Apple, and so was only used in its sales conference. We've got the advert after the jump, so check it out and let me know what you think.
Hertzfeld -- who designed much of the Mac user interface -- posted the advert on Google Plus.
Here it is, for your viewing pleasure.
It is a bit back-pattingly anti-corporate. It positions the Macintosh as affordable for individuals, rather than corporations. Marketing manager Mike Murray says it'll usher in a shift in the balance of power, from "companies running people, to hopefully people running companies."
"We were just trying to make something incredibly great," Hertzfeld says in the ad, "and I think we did."
But much of the same ethos remains in place today (so maybe it's not so surprising if it's a little smug). "Demonstrating a Macintosh is the only way to do it," 'Apple fellow' Bill Atkinson says. "I can't really describe it to you in words, but if I can get you to sit in front of it, and play with it, you won't let go of it." He could be talking about a modern-day Apple keynote.
Another contributor proclaims: "We designed Macintosh really because we wanted one for ourselves and we couldn't get one."
And another: "Mac is an extension of who we are."
Apple seems to have dropped a clunker in its latest batch of adverts. The more recent ads patronise customers while undoing the message Apple has been trying to get across for years: that a Mac is so simple you don't need to be shown how to use it. But maybe.
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