This Week in IT History: A is for Apple
Believe it or not, it was Jan. 24, 1984, when Apple started selling Macintosh computers to the public. The ads for the computer also came out during the NFL Superbowl.
The computer was originally named after the fruit, which you might know is spelled with an Mc, not Mac. But some of you may know the appropriately spelled McIntosh, a company that manufactures high-end audio equipment (yes, it's still around). At the time the Mac was under development, Apple approached McIntosh in hopes of using the name with permission. Apple was denied and had to buy rights to do so. Whether this early episode explains Apple's aggressive protection of its copyrights is a mystery.
Another mystery is whose idea it was to add the "a" to Mc, a mystery that I couldn't solve via the typical Google search.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 01/24/2011 at 11:59 AM