Product Description

There was a time, not too long ago, when the typewriter and notebook ruled, and the computer as an everyday tool was simply a vision. Revolution in the Valley traces this vision back to its earliest roots: the hallways and backrooms of Apple, where the groundbreaking Macintosh computer was born. The book traces the development of the Macintosh, from its inception as an underground skunkworks project in 1979 to its triumphant introduction in 1984 and beyond. The stories in Revolution in the Valley come on extremely good authority. That's because author Andy Hertzfeld was a core member of the team that built the Macintosh system software, and a key creator of the Mac's radically new user interface software. One of the chosen few who worked with the mercurial Steve Jobs, you might call him the ultimate insider. When Revolution in the Valley begins, Hertzfeld is working on Apple's first attempt at a low-cost, consumer-oriented computer: the Apple II. He sees that Steve Jobs is luring some of the company's most brilliant innovators to work on a tiny research effort the Macintosh. Hertzfeld manages to make his way onto the Macintosh research team, and the rest is history. Through lavish illustrations, period photos (many never before published), and Hertzfeld's vivid first-hand accounts, Revolution in the Valley reveals what it was like to be there at the birth of the personal computer revolution. The story comes to life through the book's portrait of the talented and often eccentric characters who made up the Macintosh team. Now, over 20 years later, millions of people are benefiting from the technical achievements of this determined and brilliant group of people.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #155909 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

About the Author
Andy Hertzfeld was a graduate student in computer science at UC Berkeley in January 1978 when he purchased one of the first Apple IIs. He quickly lost interest in grad school as he began writing programs for his Apple II, eventually leading him to join Apple Computer as a systems programmer in August 1979. He joined the Macintosh team in February 1981, and became one of the main authors of the Macintosh system software, including the User Interface Toolbox and many of the original desk accessories. He left Apple in March 1984, and went on to co-found three companies: Radius (1986), General Magic (1990) and Eazel (1999). His latest project is web-based software for collective storytelling, which was used to originally publish the stories in this book on his Mac Folklore website (http://www.folklore.org)

Customer Reviews

Great Fun
This is a series of anecdotes about the building of the original Macintosh. Most of the text is available online, but it's nice to have them collected in a book.

The book conveys the enthusiasm of the project, possibly they're a bit kind to Steve Jobs who seems a complete nightmare to work for (see 'Accidental Empires' for an alternative take).

It would have been nice to get more get more from other developers such as Bill Atkinson who seemed to do pretty astonishing things (Quickdraw, MacDraw).

This does seem like a bit of a vanity project for Andy Hertzfeld, he's earned it, but it would be nice to hear lots of different voices.

A must for any Mac lover's bookshelf
I bought my first Mac in 1985 for £3,000 - it was the slightly updated model with 512k RAM (the original only had 128k). Neither model had a hard disc but they did have a really cool 3.5 inch floppy disc that ejected under software control (there was no eject button). In addition to the £3k I had to spend another £500 on an external 3.5 inch disc drive - the internal drive was used for applications, the external for data. That Mac enabled me to start my own business and I loved it. It was a joy to switch it on each morning - it would even smile at you.

This is supposed to be a book review I know but if you were one of those early converts to the Mac cause then you must have this book. It will definitely bring back memories and can be dipped into whenever you are feeling nostalgic for those early WIMP days. Some great stories about some amazing characters and some neat photos and illustrations too.

Excellent first hand account of how the Mac came to be
This is a superb book covering the Mac's evolution and creation, told by the people involved. Its broken into small chapters written by various Mac team members, so you can dip in and out whenever you like. Its very very interesting and you get first hand information and real emotion behind everything.

Well worth checking out if you have any interest in Apple, retro computing or the computer industry.