Never-before broadcast ad for 1983 Macintosh computer revealed

13 Aug 2012

Andy Hertzfeld, former designer of the Mac user interface, in the never-aired ad for the 1983 Macintosh computer

One of the original creators of the 1983 Macintosh computer has posted online a never-before broadcast advert for the computer. Apple had deemed the ad as being too ‘self-congratulatory’.

“Here’s a rare commercial for the original Macintosh that Chiat-Day made in the fall of 1983, featuring snippets from interviews of the design team. It never aired because Apple deemed it too self-congratulatory, although it was used in some promotional materials sent to dealers,” wrote Andy Hertzfeld, who had designed much of the Mac user interface, on his Google+ page.

Hertzfeld also posted the advert on YouTube, where it’s described as, “Snippets from interviews with members of the original Macintosh design team, recorded in October 1983 for projected TV commercials that were never used. Featuring Burrell Smith, Andy Hertzfeld, George Crow, Bill Atkinson and Mike Murray.”

“We designed the Macintosh because we wanted one for ourselves and we couldn’t get one,” the contributors say in the ad.

Hertzfeld now works as a software engineer at Google.

Watch the advert, ‘Original Macintosh Design Team Interview Snippets’, here:

 

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com