Chapter 5 3 "Let's be pirates!"

Our management R&D people often go to scenic resort retreats, where we usually have a few days of meetings, and in the evening I still party at the bar and dance until I am exhausted, which of course does not feel like work. —Phil Royball In January 1979, the last few critical problems with the Apple Computer were finally resolved. Soon after that, Steve Jobs became so stingy that he would not allow any employee of the company to give away company products for free to the company's contractors or people who supported Apple.And in the early days, he was very generous.He had previously sold the Apple II at cost to a man named Dan Felstarra, who went on to become a computer software developer in Boston.In early 1979, Dan came to Apple with a software system developed by two of his employees.The system they developed allows computer users to call large amounts of data stored in basic storage units in rows or columns, and then perform related operations on the data.Using this system can create an entire table containing all data, for example, a sales statistics table for each month of a quarter in a region.It can be said that this system is the first electronic data calculation program in the computer industry, which is also recognized by people.People who may have been in contact with this program will be deeply impressed by one of its basic features. This feature is that when the user modifies one of the values, all the results are recalculated, which avoids some possible errors. , which is also a major factor in the rapid success of the system,

The built-in programming language system of the Apple II, together with its extended functions, disk drives, programs designed by Felstalla, and the VisiCalc electronic watchmaking software, these achievements made the ultimate glory of the Apple computer, and the Apple personal computer also It quickly became a "must have" machine for people.When the Visicalc program was installed on the Apple II in 1979, the Apple II computer became a must-have computer product in the business circle.After that, as new models of Apple computers based on other platforms were developed one after another, Apple Computer truly became the "leader" in the personal computer market.

In the second year, sales of Apple computers soared by a factor of 1, and Apple became the unrivaled computer company in the market.Despite the company's huge success, Steve Jobs was uninspired because Woz was responsible for developing the Apple II computer.Steve himself also wanted to develop a computer product and let everyone know that it was developed by him, Jobs.He wants to show the world that he can also develop computers. In Apple, there is not only a computer genius like Woz, but also a Jobs. Steve had in mind a new type of computer that would outperform all computers that had come before, and that hadn't been seen or thought of by anyone.He had already given this computer a name, and the name he had chosen was the most inconceivable, the most incomprehensible, and Jobs decided to name the computer of the future "Lisa", which was the same as his The name of the daughter, who still refused to admit it at the time, was exactly the same. For many years, a game competition has been popular among Apple employees. It seems more reasonable to explain, whoever is the winner.In fact, Apple's employees are very aware of this matter.

Bruce Tognazzini, an early software development expert at Apple, knew that Jobs' great frustration would force him to work hard on his own products. "Markkula never gave Jobs any power. In the early days, no one knew what Jobs was up to all day. He would show up in front of employees once in a while, and he was always there to give long, fiery speeches. We felt in the Apple didn't work for him, we worked for Markkula or Scotty, not Jobs. If we were working for Jobs, most of us would probably leave Apple." In order to realize his "Lisa" dream, Jobs specially invited Trip Hawkins, who was in charge of market development at Apple, to help him. Hawkins had just obtained a master's degree in business administration at that time.Hawkins said: "To develop this project, each computer needs to use $2,000 worth of components, and has a system structure based on 16 bytes, and the product developed must also be a high-performance office computer. Refer to Hewlett-Packard's high-performance computer system." With a strong desire to develop new computer products, Jobs hired two Hewlett-Packard engineers to participate in the research and development work.

After having a good idea, Steve's desire for research and development became stronger day by day.Because he holds the title of Apple's vice president of research and development, his orders have some effect on people who are involved in research and development projects and those who are not. At the same time, Jobs thought of a plan to spy on the holy land of computer research and development-the "Holy Grail" computer research and development institution. This institution is the highly secret Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Xe-rox Palo Alto Research Center), known as Tones of awe call this center "Towle PARC".There is a less credible account that Jobs went to Xerox Development Corporation, which is the management arm of Xerox's venture capital, and told their representatives: "If you will let me see the secret technology in your 'Xerox PARC,' I'll let you invest a million dollars in Apple." Steven Birnbaum of Xerox Development said there was no such thing.However, Steve did it anyway, and he and a few employees managed to get to "Xerox PARC."The Xerox Development Company also agreed to invest $1 million in Apple and purchase 100,000 shares of Apple.Perhaps the secret lies here.

At that time, PARC had already made a breakthrough in the field of personal computer technology, but no one in their company thought that they should use their technical advantages to produce low-cost personal computers.They hoped that Apple would be interested in these and then co-develop with them, but things are not developing like this After several meetings, PARC established the rules for some Apple employees to enter their "sacred places."On this day, Steve, Scotty, Bill Atkinson, an excellent computer expert, and four other Apple employees were led to the product display area of ​​PARC. PARC scientist Larry Tessler predicts, "These people are just a bunch of hackers who don't know anything about computer science or what we're about to do, and they're just amused by what's jumping on the screen."

Instead, Tesler saw a different scene. "Atkinson looked at the screen carefully. He was standing on my left, his nose was only two inches away from the screen... They looked at each exhibit very carefully. Jobs paced back and forth in the exhibition area, here is a look , look there, keep looking. It can be seen that he is very excited.¨ "When I was operating in front of the screen, Jobs kept watching for about a minute, and then he looked up excitedly and shouted: 'Why don't you apply these technologies to develop products?! This is really the most amazing thing. Stuff! This is the technological revolution!'''

Tessler was amazed by his group, just as Apple employees were amazed by PARC technology. "No one who has seen these exhibits before cares so much about the subtleties of the exhibits: why do the subtitles in the window have various patterns? Why do these jumping menus seem real..." Atkinson said: "I understand the various principles behind their technology, but the problem is that they can do it, and it is perfect. I think they can, and we can too. This visit inspired It also gave us the confidence to work hard.¨ What Apple's personnel saw in PARC was the user's choice of operation instructions. When the user chooses, it is not an instruction to key in a password, but to move a pointer to complete the desired instruction on the display.Various files can be selected on the windows of the personal computer, and menus can be freely selected on the computer screen.Of course, for today's computer users, this is the most basic way to operate a computer, but it seemed very magical at the time.Because until then, computers were done by typing, and computer monitors had nothing but letters and numbers on their screens. What PARC shows is standard computer GUIs, which are invisible to computing at this time, and they work very well.Of course, in addition to this, these computers are also equipped with a word processing system, which can display pages when printing; in addition, there is a set of text and graphics processing programs, and the most distinctive feature is a network system - Ethernet (Ethernet). This program enables multiple machines in the same office to share files and information.

The most amazing thing is that you can control the insertion point on the screen by moving a small thing with your hand on the computer desktop, which is the mouse.Of course, this is not the latest design. There is a dreamer named Douglas Engelbart who designed the prototype of the mouse in the 1960s. He was in the research project undertaken by the Stanford Research Institute and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. This mouse was designed. Larry Tessler has shown many people their exhibits since working at PARC, but this group from Apple was different. "What impresses me the most," Tessler said, "is that the questions they ask are the most advanced questions I've heard in the seven years I've been at Xerox. None of the students asked such questions. The questions they asked showed that they understood the meaning of the question and understood the minutiae of it.”

"After this demo - I'm sure I'm leaving Xerox and going to Apple." Tessler did exactly that, becoming a technologist at Apple and serving as the company's vice president. As they drove back to Cupertino, Steve Jobs, still talking excitedly, turned to Bill Atkinson and asked Bill Atkinson how long it would take to smell the "Lisa" they were dreaming of. to come out.Atkinson, a good programmer but inexperienced in operating systems and user interfaces, just guessed and said, "Oh, about 6 months." But then, he left Apple for 5 years . The enthusiasm aroused by that visit to PARC at Apple is a great blessing to every one of us who use personal computers today, but not necessarily a good thing to the fledgling "Lisa" computer design project .

At Apple, the people who built the "Lisa" computer always exude a sense of superiority, and they are clearly different from the rest of the company.Unless you wear a yellow badge to get into their workspace, which is a beautiful building in Cupertino's Bandeley Drive industrial area (an Apple industrial area).But that sense of entitlement does not guarantee satisfactory work results. "We're going crazy," Hawkins said, "everyone here, including Jobs, is working so hard for 'Lisa' that everything we do has to do with computers, and most of all The cost issue, the previous design plan stipulated that the sales price of the machine was 2,000 US dollars, but now this figure has no reference significance. The final price of the product on the market is 10,000 US dollars.” "Fundamentally we underestimated two things: how much the 'Lisa' computer would cost, and how long it would take to finalize the development project," Hawkins said. The apparently conflicting personality traits of Steve Jobs were on full display under the circumstances.He may irritate the people he works with every day, and he may change his mind in the blink of an eye, but he also has the ability to inspire the best people in Apple to work for him with a sincere heart. "Lisa" computer, he likes to say: "What we make will be of great significance, and it will definitely cause a sensation on the university campus." From now on, this is completely ridiculous. ideas, but at that time people were still working hard, especially some engineers, they spent all day in the laboratory, and they were insulated from the laughter and laughter outside." "Steve had a vision of the future that allowed him to go forward. When Steve believed something was going to work, he had this amazing vision that allowed him to see through any obstacle, trouble or otherwise. No difficulty will stop him from achieving his goals." Hawkins insists: "Apple is successful because we really believe in what we do. The main thing is that everything we do is not about making money, but about changing the world." Sure, Hawkins' idea came to fruition, but "Lisa" wasn't part of the realization. By 1980, Apple's employees had reached 200, then 600, and then more than 1,000, and its factories had expanded from California to Texas, as well as Ireland and Singapore.Apple is no longer recruiting most employees based on their enthusiasm alone, but more on their resumes. In the late summer of 1980, Apple's organizational structure suddenly changed again.Due to the rapid expansion of the company's scale, the previous institutional setup seemed inflexible.After some backdoor operations, Scotty and Markkula, as well as several key managers of the company, planned a plan to divide the company into three departments.One department is the accessories department; the second department is the disk drive department, which is also a department that the company is trying to develop; the third department is called the personal computer system department-this is a department formed by the merger of the two production lines of Apple II and Apple III . Finally, a Professional Office Systems Division was established to develop Steve Jobs' flagship product, the "Lisa" computer.Since his last trip back from Xerox, Steve has decided to turn everything he's seen into a new generation of "Lisa" computers.However, Apple's "professional" computer scientists did not agree with Jobs' views, and they tried their best to stop Jobs.As a result of the struggle, Jobs temporarily won, but ultimately lost.Apple's decision-makers did not let Steve be in charge of the professional office system department, but handed over the responsibility according to the plan to John Couch, who was still Apple's vice president in charge of software development at that time.After the decision-making plan was formulated, it was announced to various management departments, including Jobs, of course. The plan decided to let Jobs temporarily not hold administrative positions-this was tantamount to slapping Jobs in the face in public.Steve has always coveted the title of Apple's vice president. He believes that the new product development research group will definitely recommend him as the person in charge of the "Lisa" computer design project. accept.Now, for Jobs, there is no job, and it also deprives him of his role in the company's day-to-day research and development, which is his dream.The only thing he can do now, and the only thing he can use his talents to do, is to lead a small team of engineering developers hand-picked by him to develop a new generation of machines full of expectations and complaints. In order to appease Jobs, the new plan made Jobs the chairman of the board.Scotty and Markkula did their best to reassure Jobs that he was badly needed in that role now that the company was planning a public offering.They praised Jobs for his good looks and the "darling" that the media rushed to report, and said that if he, a 25-year-old young man, was made the chairman of the board of directors of a company with assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, it would bring great benefits. The public effect will also stimulate the price of their company's new shares. Trip Hawkins recalled: "Steve's feelings were really hurt. He was very upset with Scottie for taking him down from his leadership position without informing him or consulting him. Dissatisfied. After all, this is Jobs' company! And Jobs was really afraid that he would not be able to engage in the development of the 'Lisa' computer. He was hit like never before." To make matters worse, John Couch made it clear that he didn't want Jobs involved in the development of the "Lisa" computer for the time being. This is the first time that Jobs has suffered such a big humiliation.For him, the previous entrepreneurship was very smooth, and he soon became a "media star", but now someone else is going to take over his position, he will have nothing, the huge contrast made him taste the first time Such a miserable taste. Of course, in a sense, his fate will undergo a major turning point from now on, which is certain. During the second week of December 1980, Jobs seemed to have nothing on his mind.On Monday of that week, John Lennon, a member of the Beatles, was assassinated by a fanatical fan.On Friday, Apple's stock was also publicly traded. On the day of trading, Apple Computer's $4.6 million public shares were snapped up within an hour, the most successful IPO in the company's history and since Ford Motor Company's oversubscribed IPO in the mid-1950s , the largest number of oversubscriptions. Apple's early private investments worked well.Among them, Xerox soon sold its shares in Apple.Steven Birnbaum, a venture capital expert at Xerox, said: "Usually, as part of the investment process, a company often gives us a five-year investment plan. The average company can complete these five years in seven years. Apple's investment plan is a good company. And Apple exceeded its goal in 18 months." Xerox invested 100 million dollars and got more than 30 million dollars in return.To this day, he is impressed by how "two very young lads with no college degrees, no money, no experience" started a Fortune 500 business in less than 5 years. When Apple went public overnight, Steve Jobs' assets reached 217.5 million US dollars. He became one of the people who gained the most wealth by relying on his own business in the United States. His entrepreneurial experience has also become the foundation of wealth accumulation. Miracle.Steve said proudly: "When I was 23 years old, my wealth reached 1 million U.S. dollars; when I was 24 years old, it reached 10 million U.S. dollars; What a dollar." He's been quoted a number of times, but I don't know where (or in other words, he may never have said it, but it's okay because it is). He is not only a super rich man, but also the youngest super rich man.He was an icon in the public eye—a good-looking young bachelor with a triumphant smile on his face, a computer pioneer who was rewriting our lives.He develops vigorously, sometimes a little wild and rough, even this will be regarded as the embodiment of his charm by others, but soon his sharp-edged personality will gradually be tempered by various extraordinary experiences flat. On a physical level, Steve now has what he wants.More importantly, money can bring him power.In the past, although Steve was firm in his various ideas, if his ideas were not approved by Scotty, Markkula and other executives, then his ideas and goals for developing new products may be Will be stillborn.Now that he has power in his hands, he can use it as he pleases.He'll also cement his position at Apple and gain the loyalty of others.He knows how to greedily acquire power and how to use it. For some reason, however, Apple employees seem less loyal to Jobs than they are to other company leaders.It may also be because Jobs never gave any stock options to the employees who started the business with him.Sometimes a weird idea of ​​Jobs, a decision that is really unpredictable, may arouse anger and dissatisfaction in the hearts of employees, but they rarely complain and can still work for a long time.In this way, day after day, year after year, they made great contributions to the company in the early days of Apple's business.Bill Fernandez was the company's first hire, and he was the first to quit when he discovered that even the new engineers had stock in the company and he had nothing. “I felt like I was working like a jackass all day, and no matter how long I worked, I was just a techie,” he said. (He went back to Apple, though.) Chris Spinoza and Randy Wigginton also do not receive any stock options from the company, although they are very successful at the company.Out of generosity and fairness, Woz began selling or giving away his private shares in 1980. He called this activity the "Woz Project."In this scheme, he sent about 8,000 shares of Apple, about 1/3 of his personal holdings, to his family and to many deserving employees ( Even some employees who shouldn't be rewarded), and his friends and acquaintances, including a real estate developer who has always regarded Woz as a friend. A rather stingy Steve tried to make it sound like his founding partner was wrong, saying: "Woz gave his options to people who didn't deserve them. Woz couldn't turn them down. A lot of people They're using him." It's surprising that such criticism came from Jobs.He was perfectly able to give away a portion of his stock to his family and closest friends so that they could potentially become very rich, but he was rather stingy and never did.For years, when Chris Ann had a stressful life with her daughter and had to ask Steve for a little help, he always said no. Dan Kottke was Steve's college classmate for many years and his good friend. He also traveled to India with Jobs and lived in Cupertino together. But until 1980, he was only a member of Apple. technicians.Kottke asked Jobs several times to own stock options. "He told me to go to my supervisor." Kotek was embarrassed because he didn't want too many people to know about it, so he went to Markkula and Scotty.They believed that Kottke was entitled to a share of the company, so they gave him 2,000 shares, which was still a small amount compared to the average Apple engineer. Steve deliberately didn't give his old friend Kotek any shares, as if it was the only way to show the power he had, to prove that he was the real boss.But there is another reason for this, and it may be the main reason. Because of Kotek's kind personality, after Steve and Chris Ann broke up, he gave Chris Ann a lot of comfort. According to Steve, loyalty is an extremely important quality in a person.Intelligence and loyalty—these became Steve's two main criteria for judging a person.Kottke met Steve's first criterion, but perhaps from Steve's point of view, Kottke did not meet the second criterion.If Kottke can't be loyal to Steve, then he won't get everything he wants.Kotek's ruthless exclusion from Apple's IPO was an early example of Steve's style, and he continues to do so today with his friends, partners, and colleagues.If you're going to be an employee of Steve Jobs, you have to be absolutely loyal to him.To some extent, it can be said that if you are absolutely loyal to him, you have to live in a cold world like him. When the holidays approached in 1980, Steve suddenly felt restless.He had signed a legal agreement to support his daughter, but since his daughter was born, he hadn't made the effort to visit her.Nor did he think about renovating his Los Gatos home, which still has almost no furniture or interiors.At work, he can freely express his aesthetic views on products, but when he faces his personal life, he often becomes indecisive.Even worse, when he learns that his new role at Apple is nothing more than a powerless corporate "wunderkind" and that he's not on the "Lisa" computer design project, Steve becomes...  Even more dissatisfied, and even more unworthy. Soon, a computer in the research and development stage of Apple attracted Jobs' attention. In fact, Jobs knew about this machine for several months, but he never revealed it.This experimental computer is the brainchild of all-around computer scientist Jeff Ruskin. Jeff wanted to design a small, relatively inexpensive general-purpose computer, and he thought he could design such a model.So he called a group of designers and designed a prototype of this computer at an astonishing speed on Christmas Eve 1979. In order to unify it with the name of Apple Computer, Jeff took the computer he designed The machine was called the "Mackintosh Machine," after the apple he was very fond of eating.But when naming the computer, he made a mistake and spelled the name of the apple "Mtacintosh", when in fact the Macintosh apple should be spelled "Mclntosh".But all the while, the name hasn't caused much trouble.The Macintosh computer was more branded than the Macintosh Apple, and since its inception, the Macintosh Apple name has often been "mispelled". When Ruskin designed the computer, he had an idea that the machine should be completely designed without any adjustments during use.He thinks of it as an "oven" that's fully equipped so you buy it and it's ready to use.He also had a strong desire to make the machine easier to operate.You just turn it on and it works right away, without loading any software or typing arcane commands.The machine would also be very portable and cost around $1,000, which would mean that the cost of an Apple computer could drop to around $300.He believes that this kind of computer does not need a graphics display process, and of course it does not need a mouse.When he visited Xerox's PARC, what he saw most was the PARC window. The circuit board for this new machine was designed by Burrell Smith.A diminutive, self-taught computer nerd, Burrell worked in Apple's service division before someone discovered the computer whiz.He was one of those rather eccentric, out-of-the-ordinary people who would be dismissed by the average orthodox computer designer.Because he was secretive, provocative, and quite conceited, Woz didn't use him again, and only asked him for help when he was too busy.Smith has a super memory, he can firmly remember the complex and messy data in the circuit board design, and will not forget it for a long time, which is very similar to Woz.This ability may seem like magic, but it is also the most basic element needed to do digital design. Many of the computer designers Ruskin called were like Burrell, and Burrell was just one of the more typical ones.These people are all unknown people in the computer design world, but they have a fire-like passion in their hearts. Most companies cannot tolerate geniuses like them, and it is this part of unknown people that makes Apple Computer create. One brilliant after another.From late 1979 to 1980, these designers worked in obscurity at Apple. They first selected available components from the engineering laboratory, then designed and assembled them, sometimes working all night. It was this group of people who made the Apple computer It has achieved an incredible speed of development. For much of that year, however, the design of the Macintosh machine sometimes enjoyed corporate support and sometimes encountered difficulties.In this case, Ruskin's design dreams are sometimes shattered, and sometimes hope is ignited.Steve was the first of them to think of abandoning this machine design in the mid-1980s, when he was involved in the development of the "Lisa" computer. "Jobs said: 'No way, you can't make that kind of machine, it's the wrong direction, Apple needs a Lisa computer, and you're going to get in the way of Lisa by designing it.'" Russ Kim recalled.Steve ultimately lost the fight, and Scotty kept the Macintosh project going, behind Steve's back, of course. In early 1981, Steve was looking for an opportunity to develop a new type of computer product, so that he could have a channel to release his abundant energy.Although he tried his best to prevent Ruskin from developing the Macintosh machine, this machine still attracted his attention.Since being sidelined from the "Lisa" computer project, Steve has been trying to find a job with the money he got from the company's IPO and his role as chairman of the board.Ruskin had in mind an application computer that could be used as easily as an oven, which intrigued him, but Steve was already planning to design the Macintosh with a different computer chip. , which is "Motorola 68000".Ruskin was very annoyed by Steve's idea, but Steve really wanted this chip to be used in Macintosh machines, mainly because this chip was used by the "Lisa" computer design group, and he wanted to The newly developed machine had the graphic pattern of the "Lisa" computer, so Steve ordered that the prototype of the Macintosh machine must use the "Motorola 68000".Ruskin is only the team leader of a R&D team, with a low position, but Steve has a high position, so seeing his R&D project being "stolen" by others, Raskin can only swallow his anger, and has no idea . In fact, Steve "Sir"'s attention to the Macintosh machine development project also encouraged Ruskin and others, but this attention was a double-edged sword.A member of the R&D team complained that the original working environment had changed.Steve Jobs said in a memo to Ruskin: "This incident appears to be causing tension, even conflict, between the two parties." This year's Christmas, the tireless Burrell Smith has begun to try to use the "Motorola 68000" chip for new design work.Steve happened to pass by and was delighted to see that Burrell was still working there over the Christmas break.He credits Burrell for working so many hours a day for the company, as he does.Smith told Steve that the machine he helped design was like the "twin" brother of the "Lisa" computer, but it was cheaper and ran 1 times faster than the "Lisa".Hearing what Smith said, Steve felt that his heart was settled. When Steve saw Smith's unfinished computer design model, he suddenly felt an idea becoming more and more clear in his mind-the Macintosh machine might become the Apple II of the 1980s. This kind of computer guides the development direction of future computer technology. The graphical user interface is easy to operate, and it can also be operated with a mouse, and the price is much cheaper.It was a very different and unique design from previous computers, but it worked, and Steve thought it was a brilliant design. The "Lisa" computer is an official project in Apple's product development plan. Its research and development team is huge, with 24 hardware engineers and countless software designers, but its progress is quite slow. The "Lisa" computer consists of about five circuit boards and some specially manufactured components.In comparison, a group of eccentric engineers with long hair managed to develop in a few weeks a new type of computer that was twice as fast as the "Lisa" and cost as little as the "Lisa". 1/30 of the computer The new computer they developed has only 1 circuit board, the components used are also available off the shelf, and it also has the same graphical user interface! Joanna Hoffman described the scene with incredible fidelity: "Just look at the look in Steve's eyes and you know that the days are not far away for Jeff - Steve Husband wants to keep the results of his research and development for himself." 当然，不仅仅是他们设计出的电脑点燃了史蒂夫·乔布斯心中的激情，还有他们这一组研发人员，他们就这么几个入，却有着目标相同的研发精神，就这么几个人，却在研发麦金托什机时怀着极大的热情和创新精神，而苹果I和苹果Ⅱ也是依靠这种热情才研发出来的。史蒂夫在研发“丽莎”电脑上总是感觉“英雄无用武之地”，而且还受到排挤，而现在他不会再受“他必须远离开发项目”这样情况的困扰了；他也明白了麦金托什机是他重新奉献自己才智的一个新起点。乔布斯感到，他们这些人就像他自己一样，总能在不可能的领域上创造辉煌。 史蒂夫打算给这群在苹果公司一个被遗忘的角落里不被人注意的开发小组鼓劲加油。他要向所有的人，包括斯科蒂、马库拉以及全公司的员工，甚至是全世界的人表明，他能带领他们研发出让入惊奇的电脑产品。他的盛气凌人导致了苹果Ⅲ的设计失败，因此他不会再那样了，当然，他也不会再意气用事而威胁要让“丽莎”电脑设计失败。他开始全身心地关注麦金托什机一这种后来享誉全球的新一代计算机。 史蒂夫开始督促杰夫·拉斯金，让他尽快把头脑中的计算机模型转化为实实在在的电脑原型，以使苹果公司再上一个大的台阶。史蒂夫说得很明白，他希望能够完全参与到这个项目的研发中。拉斯金虽然高兴，但也有点担心，因为他们两入已经有过冲突了。 当拉斯金向斯科蒂抱怨，史蒂夫过多地干涉他们的项目时，这位公司的总裁却把这件事看做是把史蒂夫这个“富有破坏精神”的家伙从公司支开的一个好方法，即使是牺牲拉斯金也在所不辞。马库拉的观点和斯科蒂一样，他也很高兴乔布斯能把精力放在拉斯金的开发项目上。麦金托什机的研发地点很偏僻，当初做这种安排主要是为了不让乔布斯靠近，以防他干涉，而现在这种偏僻的地方却能够很好地把乔布斯“关”在里面，别人也不得而知。拉斯金想寻求支持，却起到了相反的效果。 史蒂夫在任研发项目总负责人后，首先做的一件事就是雇用了开发苹果Ⅱ的主要研发人员，包括沃兹（实际上，雇用沃兹主要是为了向其他人证实这一研发项目的正统性）、罗德·霍尔特，兰迪·威金顿、杰里·曼诺克，甚至还有丹·科特克和比尔·费尔南德斯。苹果公司的一些老职员也加入到了伯勒尔·史密斯的团队中，他们有程序员巴德·特里布尔（他设计了苹果Ⅱ的机箱），斯坦福的电子工程师布赖恩·霍华德和负责市场销售的乔安娜·霍夫曼，她从一开始时就参与了这个项目。史蒂夫还为项目组开辟了新的工作区域，他让项目组搬到了苹果公司正在租用的一座大楼里，一般人都把这个地方叫做“德士古石油塔楼”（Texaco Towers），因为它靠近一座加油站。 在1981年年初，整个研发组把工作地点搬到新大楼，然后就开始忙碌着把麦金托什原型机开发成一台名副其实的电脑产品。史蒂夫——这位经常制订不现实的目标的管理入，宣布新一代苹果电脑在1年内就可以推向市场，但是当时他们只有最基本的硬件，没有操作系统和应用程序，只不过有一台示范性的样品。制订出这样的时间表真是有点滑稽。 然而史蒂夫有着不可思议的、超凡的说服能力。研发组经过史蒂夫的几次思想灌输，就接受了他制订的时间表。“他有能力让周围的人相信他对现实有着很强的感受力，”巴德·特里布尔几年后回忆说，“他的这种能力是一种复杂的混合体，里面既有能够迅速转变不良状态的能力，也有善于鼓动干劲的能力，偶尔还加上他头脑里的创见能力，他的这些能力足够让你失去正常的判断力。” 史蒂夫在麦金托什机研发组“安营扎寨”了，他凭借自己身上罩着的名人光环可以让事情进展得更加顺利。同时，身为苹果公司董事会主席的他不但能够获取研发项目所需的资金和难得的研发设备，还能阻止别人干涉他们的事务。如果有人想找研发组成员的麻烦，只要跟史蒂夫说一声就行了，而这些是拉斯金无法做到的。 和史蒂夫合作，杰夫·拉斯金整天感到如履薄冰。在这一年的1月，拉斯金就同史蒂夫发生了小摩擦。拉斯金也不是个傻子，麦金托什机寄托了他一生的希望，他不会让史蒂夫抢走头功的。他一直想着能够开发出一台体积小、功能强，而且价格还便宜的机器。他带领着这一群创造奇迹的研发组正实现着他的美好愿望，而现在竟然有一个“外人”插足进来，还想要取代他成为他们的“头目”！ 乔布斯和拉斯金的矛盾冲突引起了公司每个人的注意，但还有一件事也让苹果公司的员工担心了很长时间，这次是发生在沃兹身上。在2月初，沃兹尼亚克遭受了一次严重的意外事故。沃兹是一位飞机驾驶爱好者，这一次，他在驾驶一架单引擎的比奇伯纳萨飞机时，由于他在飞机没有达到起飞速度时强行起飞，致使发动机失灵，机翼失去了冲力，飞机坠了下来。当沃兹躺在医院的时候，苹果公司的员工都很紧张，甚至有点儿六神无主。史蒂夫·乔布斯派了一辆豪华轿车把极度担心的沃兹父母送到了医院。这一点乔布斯做得还不错，他能在处理大麻烦的同时，也不忘安排一些小事情。 当沃兹最后清醒过来的时候，却得了健忘症，他不记得究竟发生了什么事，反而问他的妻子，为什么他会躺在医院里。虽然现在他一直不喜欢谈论这件事，但他也承认能想起那次事故是5个星期以后的事了。 回到苹果公司后，史蒂夫·乔布斯继续同拉斯金争夺对麦金托什机的控制权。有一次，史蒂夫竭力破坏拉斯金已经准备好的公司内部讲座活动，他告诉参与者活动取消了。拉斯金向麦克·斯科特反映了这件事，并提供了一份证据充分的备忘录，备忘录中详细陈述了十几条史蒂夫不适合管理麦金托什机研发工作的理由。其中有一条是这样写的： 第9条：过于乐观的估计。乔布斯在研发苹果Ⅲ和“丽莎”电脑时计划失误，而且对于产品的研发成本和价格也估计失误，基于他这两次失误的经历，他在研发麦金托什机的过程中也会出现众多失误。他还为了赢得个人荣誉，提出不切实际的研发计划，而当计划不能完成时，他又责怪研发人员，由于他还对元件价格的估计过于盲目，因此导致对成本的错误估计。 有人把这份备忘录给史蒂夫看，他当时就勃然大怒。那天下午，马库拉把史蒂夫和拉斯金找来，让他们坐下来和他共同想出一个解决问题的办法。史蒂夫哭了——当他无计可施的时候往往会哭，他说，他不可能再与拉斯金一起工作了。拉斯金也一定是感到了情况对他很不利，因此，他就强硬地说，他不能再为史蒂夫工作了。 就这样，会谈不欢而散，史蒂夫·乔布斯还是麦金托什机项目的负责入。杰夫·拉斯金甚至连一点安慰都没得到，公司安排他去休一次假，这可能也是为了驱散他失败后的烦闷心情。 假如说世界总是公平的，那么杰夫·拉斯金应该是麦金托什机背后的英雄。但世界往往是不公平的，历史并不总能记住那些真正英雄的事迹。在这种情况下，当麦金托什机最后被生产出来的时候，已经不是像拉斯金所认为的，由他拉斯金创造设计了这种型号的电脑。人们都知道麦金托什机真正的“父亲”是史蒂夫—一实际上，史蒂夫只是麦金托什机的“养父”。 随后，在史蒂夫离26岁生日还差几天的时候，他又赢了一场。 到1981年，苹果公司经过4年的规模扩张，已经形成了一定程度的结构臃肿状况。一些高级管理者感觉到有些新聘用的职员工作松懈，这些职员认为公司绝对不会解雇他们，因为到那时为止，还没有苹果公司的员工被正式解雇。在硅谷，在苹果公司工作被看做是职业有了终身保证。 在1981年2月星期三的一个早晨，天阴沉沉的，还下着雨，员工们刚上班就被通知在公司的地下停车库召开全体员工大会。程序员唐·登曼回忆说：“斯科蒂总裁站起来就开始讲，苹果公司人员太多了，他要解雇一些人。他说他要把该解雇的员工召集到他的办公室，然后说明解雇的理由。整个会场突然安静了下来。谁将在解雇名单上？我们所有的人都不知道是否能够顺顺当当地度过这一天。” 苹果公司的员工很快发现，那些即将被解雇的员工之前也是没有丝毫预感的。解雇的消息一说出来，员工的情绪马上爆发了出来。每个人都在边走边考虑，是不是这就是最后一天在苹果公司工作了。慢慢的，对员工们来说，事情已经变得非常明显——只要管理者想要解雇你，你就得卷起铺盖赶快离开。在不称职的部门，领导可能不会被解雇，但员工却无一幸免，也不管其中有的员工曾为公司的发展做过了多大的贡献。 斯科蒂在公布解雇消息之前曾经同史蒂夫·乔布斯商量过，并且得到了他的赞同，而当员工情绪高涨时，史蒂夫又竭力地撇清自己，给人的感觉好像这件事全是斯科蒂一个人的主意。 年轻聪明的程序设计员安迪·赫茨菲尔德也在这次解雇事件中遇到了麻烦，因为住在他隔壁的同事，也是同他一起开发软件的合作伙伴被解雇了。赫茨菲尔德心想，和他一起参与软件开发的同事走了，这让他怎么再继续做这一项目呢？于是，第二天早上，赫茨菲尔德去找斯科蒂并告诉他，自己也要离开了。斯科蒂就问赫茨菲尔德，怎么样才能让他留下来。在赫茨菲尔德参与开发的几个项目中，有一个项目就和麦金托什机有关，因此史蒂夫也不想让赫茨菲尔德离开。于是，史蒂夫就去找赫茨菲尔德，并竭力说服他，他也不顾赫茨菲尔德的各种辞职理由，只是对他说，要想离开也得等到完成麦金托什机设计项目之后。说完，史蒂夫就拔下赫茨菲尔德电脑的插头，然后把电脑放进他的汽车后备箱里，开着车把进退两难的赫茨菲尔德拉到了麦金托什机的设计大楼里。安迪想要开发麦金托什机，而史蒂夫也离不开他，这样协议就达成了。 到了2月份，沃兹出院了，但还是没有完全恢复，谁也不知道他还能不能再回苹果公司工作。 比尔·阿特金森是在苹果公司比较受重视的一位电脑专家，他是一个对电脑设计非常痴迷的人。他长着一双狂热的眼睛，头发乱蓬蓬的，说话很文雅，有时显得很沉默，他也经常能给爱开玩笑之人带去开心的笑声。比尔认为，计算机研发者毕生的使命就是能够不断地设计出操作更简单的计算机，并且设计出的计算机能给用户带来欢乐。 程序设计并不像我们大多数人每天所从事的日常工作一样，它对人非常有吸引力。“程序员”这个名称可不是随便叫的，当他在设计工作中遇到极大的挑战时，他必须要不停地工作，直到彻底找到隐藏在这个问题之后的解决方案。比尔·阿特金森就是这样的程序设计员。有一次，他在研发项目上取得了重大突破后，就连夜召开了会议，第二天早上开着车就开始打盹，汽车突然撞进了一辆大卡车的拖斗下面，汽车的上盖也被刮掉了。 几个小时后，当他醒来的时侯，已躺在医院的病床上了。史蒂夫·乔布斯坐在病床边上问道：“好点了吗？”史蒂夫这么关切比尔的受伤情况并不是怕耽误了麦金托什机的研发进程，而是因为阿特金森当时正在参与设计“丽莎”电脑，是他设计了“丽莎”电脑的画图组件，而有了这一项设计后，苹果公司的第二代电脑产品就有点像乔布斯在施乐公司看到的展品了。史蒂夫很尊敬比尔，因为他是一个非常难得的电脑天才，也是苹果公司第一位超级电脑专家。在他这次出事后，由于史蒂夫的嘘寒问暖，阿特金森更对史蒂夫和麦金托什机贴心了。 史蒂夫一直不对研发麦金托什机的最后期限提出任何更改，仍然坚持要在12个月内将麦金托什杌推向市场。因为在苹果公司里，除了阿特金森还没有人能够开发在电脑屏幕上显示图像的软件，这项技术要求能够很好处理图像上的每一个点（也就是像素），因此，所需要的时间也很长。 研发组成员发现他们必须要找到一种对付乔布斯的好办法。“这样做的目的就是等到他再来的时候能看到我们正在认真地工作。”唐·登曼说道。 “我们都知道关于史蒂夫的一个笑话。如果你想要他同意你提出的一个新想法，那么你就把这个想法告诉他，他当时肯定不会同意。几个星期以后，他会急匆匆地赶过来找你，告诉你他有一个极好的想法，并要把这个好想法告诉你，其实这个想法是你几个星期前提供给他的。”但这时在史蒂夫的眼里，这已经是他的想法了，他可以光明正大地要求把这种想法应用到设计工作中了。 虽然整个研发组都知道史蒂夫的这个小伎俩，就是把别人的想法据为已有，然后再把它告诉提出这个想法的人，没有人知道这到底是史蒂夫算计好的，还是他根本就没意识到这回事。在研发组里流行着一句话来描述史蒂夫的这种做法，杰夫·拉斯金说：“我们都叫他'扭曲事实的大师'。”随着时间的推移，究竟是谁开始这么叫他的也不得而知了。 然而即使史蒂夫不懂得一些技术上的详细信息，他仍旧想着在设计项目的关键部分“烙上”自己的“印记”。在电脑设计中，唯一不需要用到技术知识的地方就是机箱的设计，所以他就把它看做是自己的设计领域。 史蒂夫为了解决一个问题，通常要不间断地思考。假如他要开始与你谈话，或者说是他主动开口的，在谈话中，他会随时询同你对这个问题有什么样的解决方法。只要你发表意见，他会对你进行判断：如果你所知甚少，并不能帮助他解决难题，这时候，史蒂夫就不会再和你讨论了，他会马上离开。第二种情况是你真的对这个问题有着自己的真知灼见，他通常也会改变一下说话的语调，就说“这个嘛……嗯”——这是他通常的表达方式。假如他认为你真是个有用之人，他会给你解释为什么你提出的想法一文不值，而他的想法是解决这一问题的唯一方案；假如他认为你是个毫无用处的人，那你就得带着那一文不值的想法赶快离开。 有一天，史蒂夫带着一本电话簿去参加一个关于设计工作的会议，走进会议室他就把电话簿扔在了会议桌子上，说：“设计出来的麦金托什机就应该这么大，不能再让它的体积变大了，如果再加大，用户会受不了的。 “另外还有，我看着这些方方正正像一只盒子一样的电脑就厌烦，为什么不能把它设计得更高一点，而不是更宽一点呢？对这个同题要讨论一下。”说完他就离开了。 会议室里的人都看着这本电话簿面面相觑。这个本子只有原先设计的电脑的一半大小，根本不可能设计出这么小的电脑。伯勒尔·史密斯也认为，根据他学的电子学知识根本不可能设计出体积如此小的电脑。 史蒂夫往往不允许别人对他提出的问题置之不理，至少为他工作的苹果公司的员工不能这样。他的命令有时听起来很不合理，但他也得刺激研发组成员一下。史蒂夫非常希望研发组能给他设计出一台带来革命性影响的计算机。 那件事之后的第二个星期，研发组设计出来了样式不同的麦金托什机的机箱模型，这些模型整齐地排在一起便于让各位员工参观和评论。也就是说机器的基本外形已经确定了，和前些年设计的电脑没什么差别。这个后来很受欢迎的模型有一个黑白屏幕，还有一个内置的磁盘驱动器，当然还允许再加一个。然而关于麦金托什机的一个设计特点，即它没有用以增加计算机性能的扩展插槽和插件，成为了麦金托什机推向市场后一个一直备受争议的话题。 在很大程度上，关于麦金托什机的这一设计特点来源于拉斯金的设计理念，也就是设计出的电脑应该像烤箱一样，不用进行任何升级，这一设计理念在麦金托什机的设计中被完整地采用了。然而从麦金托什机被设计出来的情况看，采取这样的设计方案是很糟糕的，因为麦金托什机没有采用能够使苹果Ⅱ获得成功的一个关键设计方案，即苹果Ⅱ的扩展性能。克里斯·斯皮诺莎认为，“消除沃兹的设计印记”是史蒂夫要求对麦金托什机进行如此设计的一个主要动机。史蒂夫知道这件事是怎么回事，即使有时是他完全错了，由于他的个性、他的富有、他的傲慢目大，以及媒体对他的吹捧，他仍然会固执己见。当然，人们有时能够接受他那粗暴无礼的个性常常是因为他的做法是正确的。 由于上次的解雇风波，一些关于斯科蒂的流言飞语在公司员工中间流传开来，再加上苹果公司的人力资源部对斯科蒂在解雇工作中的做法不满，所以也给员工们煽风点火。这些流言飞语把矛头直接对准了斯科蒂，指责他强行解雇员工的行为，乔布斯和马库拉当时也是同意解雇部分员工的，而现在他们却置身事外。 在3月底，当斯科蒂从夏威夷度假回来的时侯，麦克·马库拉把他请到了苹果公司星期天晚上召开的会议上，并告诉他行政管理部要求他辞职，并决定由马库拉临时接替他任苹果公司总裁一职。 公司做出这一决定完全符合史蒂夫的想法，因为史蒂夫认为，斯科蒂对他负责的麦金托什机研发项目来说，是一个潜在的障碍。而马库拉在这一方面是聪明而机灵的，他不会对史蒂夫的决定和意志横加阻拦。对史蒂夫这个没有实际权力的苹果公司董事会主席来说，这样处置斯科蒂最合适不过了。 史蒂夫还是决定按计划表设计出麦金托什机，并在原先规定的日期推向市场。史蒂夫·乔布斯向精神已经高度紧张的研发组说，他已和“丽莎”电脑研发组负责人打了赌，如果麦金托什机能在“丽莎”电脑之前上市，他就会赢5 000美元，否则他就会输5 000美元。史蒂夫这么一说又给本来就已经相当紧张的“德士古石油塔楼”办公室增添了几分忙乱。 后来在5月份，史蒂夫做出了一个大胆的决定，他做出的这一决定，对研发出来的麦金托什机是过时的还是会取得辉煌的成功至关重要，事后也证明他的这一决定是非常关键的。史蒂夫没有在公司内开发新机器的软件，而是请公司外部的入来开发。像他做出的许多决定一样，这次决定也播下了以后失败的种子，因为在后来，苹果公司的个人电脑在同IBM公司的个人电脑在市场主导权的竞争中失败了。 史蒂夫做出这一决定的部分原因是由于他那自私的个性和追求权力的强烈动机。史蒂夫在负责苹果Ⅲ和“丽莎”电脑设计的时侯，就痛苦地意识到一个研发组规模越大，人员越多，他对研发组的影响力和控制力就会越小。按照研发计算机的常理，麦金托什机在这个研发阶段就应该开发相关的软件了，但史蒂夫害怕他可能会失去对这一项目的掌控，因为以前出现过这种情况。他绝不会让这种事情再次发生。他这样做就意味着他必须要找其他公司帮助麦金托什机开发软件。 在苹果公司里，史蒂夫周围聚集着很多的年轻人，他们之中有一些是比他还年轻的电脑天才。年轻好像就等同于能力、奉献和超前的思想意识。当把“年轻”和“软件”放在同一个句子中时，史蒂夫首先想到的一个名字是比尔·盖茨。当然，比尔·盖茨是他生意上的竞争对手，但他想，不了解自己的竞争对手又怎么能同他展开竞争呢？ 微软公司当时就已经很成功了，但同苹果公司相比，它还处于一个赶超苹果公司的阶段，盖茨自己也梦想着有一天能超过史蒂夫·乔布斯，成为一个像他一样富有的人。盖茨是一个善于冒险的人，又有点傲慢自大，喜欢炫耀自己，他很欣赏史蒂夫那种善于打破常规的精神。盖茨平时相当矜持，是一个注意力高度集中的年轻人，也是家酿俱乐部里的一名电脑高手。 在那时，微软公司最重要的产品就是BASIC程序语言，程序员可以用BASIC语言编写应用程序，该语言在很多电脑上应用，不过它最成功的操作平台是苹果Ⅱ。沃兹设计的计算机的主板也使用BASIC语言，他是从微软公司获得使用许可的，而当苹果Ⅱ成为市场上的主流电脑品牌的时候，微软公司的利润开始迅速增加多当IBM公司欲寻找一个合作公司为它新开发的个人电脑编写软件时，他们最后选择了微软公司，随后该公司的很多工程师都到了微软。 史蒂夫决定亲自去微软公司找比尔·盖茨，他在微软公司当时的总部大楼里同比尔·盖茨和保罗·艾伦进行了会谈，他们三人一起商讨了公司的发展目标。然后，史蒂夫就大力宣扬他们合作的必要性，要求微软公司支持合作项目。 然而，盖茨和艾伦这两个极其精明的年轻人强烈反对开发个人计算机市场，他们认为这种电脑市场没有发展前景。而乔布斯却不这么认为，他预计一些大学生、受教育程度比较高的人以及比较前卫的家庭都有可能成为他们的个人计算机用户，甚至一些企业中层管理人士和公司秘书也会加入到他们的队伍里来。盖茨在另一方面受IBM公司中间派观点的影响，他认为，计算机只不过是实用性的商业工具，并不会出现像史蒂夫·乔布斯描述的那种很多人争相购买的情况。 史蒂夫则坚持说，单凭几句话还不能完全展现个人电脑的魅力，他要让盖茨和艾伦到苹果公司位于库比提诺的工程实验室参观这些让人惊叹不已的新型电脑。 在史蒂夫离开后，盖茨和艾伦决定组织一组人去看看这种新奇的电脑。他们两个非常精明，打算在苹果公司脚踩两只船。他们认为，“丽莎”可能会是最后的赢家，而史蒂夫·乔布斯低成本的麦金托什机也有可能成为电脑行业的一大亮点。 就这样，微软公司组织了一组参观者到苹果公司参观，并且一直到傍晚时分才回来，参观完他们相信了苹果公司真的是与众不同。比尔·盖茨决定答应史蒂夫·乔布斯，微软公司可以为他们设计的电脑开发软件。在那时，微软公司基本是为IBM公司开发日常工作软件系统，而不开发让人着迷的软件。现在要为苹果公司开发的是应用程序系统——那些可以让人着迷或心跳加速的软件系统。开发这种“夺命应用程序”(夺命应用程序(Killer App)，同类型和功能翎同的计算机软件中最佳的软件。——-译者注)对微软公司来说的确是一种诱惑。就好像史蒂夫手里拿着一根香肠在嘴馋的人面前晃来晃去，他们当然要想办法得到这根香肠。 IBM公司的个人电脑将会在那年的夏季推向市场，当微软公司在为这些毫无美感的电脑编写软件的时侯，麦金托什机却给了他们另一种希望。 下一个月，IBM公司向外界展示了他们的个人电脑。这种电脑果然和苹果公司麦金托什机研发组每个人所想到的一样，机身体积大，显得很笨重，也没有技术方面的创新，还不容易操作。这和设想中的“丽莎¨电脑真是有天壤之别。在8月底，在这种电脑上市的时候，麦金托什机研发组就去买了一台，然后把它拆开来研究。看明白了以后，他们才放心了，因为IBM公司的个人电脑既不美观，也不实用。整个研发组都相信等第二年他们设计的电脑展示出来以后，一定会挫败IBM公司的电脑。 史蒂夫已把和IBM公司的竞争看成是一次拯救世界的行动。当然，在同IBM公司的竞争中，史蒂夫也感到很紧张。“苹果公司和IBM公司马上就会展开竞争了，”史蒂夫说，“假如由于某种原因我们出现了重大失误，而让IBM公司赢了，我们在以后的20年里就会处于计算机世界的'黑暗时代'。一旦他们占领了计算机市场，他们就会停止创新，也会阻碍任何创新的开发和设计。 “如果你考察一下计算机的大型机市场，可以看出自从15年前IBM公司的大型计算机垄断市场以来，他们实际上没有任何革新技术。 IBM公司在个人电脑的设计上也根本没有电脑产业界的新技术。他们只是重新包装了一下，或者是稍微扩展了一下苹果Ⅱ的技术。 “苹果电脑则给电脑市场提供了另一种选择。” 虽然史蒂夫并不大重视计算机技术方面的提高，但苹果公司还是在面向全美国发行的报纸上做了一则著名的广告，这则广告有点散文的风格，也有点自以为是甚至是贬低他人、抬高自己的意味。广告内容如下： 欢迎IBM公司： 苹果公司真诚欢迎你们和我们合作！ 欢迎你们光临自30年前计算机革命以来最激动人心、最重要的计算机市场。祝贺你们研发了世界上第一台计算机。我们每个人都通过使用计算机提高了工作效率，改变了思考、学习和交流方式，甚至是娱乐的方式。计算机操作能力很快成为了和读书、写字一样重要的基本技能。当我们研发出第一套个人计算机系统时，我们预计只要人们能够意识到使用计算机的益处，在全世界范围内将会有1.4亿人购买计算机。我们预计明年就将会有1 00万名用户考虑购买计算机。在下一个10年里，我们相信个人计算机还会出现更为迅猛的增长3我们期待着我们之间激烈的良性竞争可以把美国的计算机技术传播到全世界。我们非常欣赏你们在这方面所做出的诸多承诺。我们现在正在做的就是通过提高每个人的工作效率来增加社会财富。欢迎你们加入到我们的队伍里来！ 这真是一则非常自鸣得意的广告，因为这则广告是从一家规模不到IBM公司l/lO的公司发出来的。正如所预料到的结果那样，IBM公司推出的个人电脑对苹果公司来说是一次巨大的走向全美国市场的机遇，它使苹果电脑名正言顺地进入了全美国市场。另一方面，IBM公司个人电脑的推出也使苹果个人电脑在公众面前出尽了风头，因为苹果电脑是IBM公司电脑真正的竞争对手，同时在与IBM的竞争过程中，苹果公司会给人以弱者的印象，所以其电脑产品更容易得到用户的认同。就知名度来说，1981年是苹果电脑的一个分水岭。在一开始的时候，只有10%的美国人知道苹果电脑是怎么回事，而到了这年的年末，这一数字升高到80%。事实上，这两家公司有很大的不同——其中一家在加利福尼亚，有着西部自由主义的传统风格；另一家在美围东海岸，有着东北部保守主义的传统风格，它们唯一相同的是共同提升了苹果电脑的形象。 IBM公司个人电脑的推出给了麦金托什机和“丽莎”电脑研发组更大的动力，他们相信自己会很快为新型电脑带来革命性的变化，他们要向全世界表明IBM公司的电脑是多么的笨重，而相比较来说，苹果公司设计的电脑又是多么的精妙绝伦。 当然在最后，事情并不是按照他们想的那样发展了。 到了7月份，麦金托什机就开始进入测试阶段，基本部件和电路板的设计都已接近尾声。新机器安装了一个内置的磁盘驱动器，和以前研发的苹果Ⅱ一样。安装了一个容量为64KB的ROM——也就是只读存储器(read-onlymemo巧)，另外还有相同容量的RAM——也就是随机存储器（random acce8smemory），虽然伯勒尔·史密斯已经设计出来可以扩充到128KB的RAM，但并没有应用到麦金托什机上。因为这是一个秘密，这是背着史蒂夫·乔布斯设计的，史蒂夫当时规定只能设计一种存储器。 也是在7月份，史蒂夫完成了第一份麦金托什机商业计划方案草稿。计划规定，向市场正式推出麦金托什机的时间是1982年年中，同时，“丽莎”电脑和新型苹果Ⅱ电脑也要推向市场6麦金托什机I的价格是l500美元，这其中还包括了软件，等到研发出麦金托什机Ⅱ的时候，价格就降到1 000美元，他还预计，麦金托什机在第一年要销售50万台，史蒂夫提出的这一销售数字真是显得有点漫无边际，但他经常这样说，人们逐渐就把这一设想看成是可以实现的了。 在研发麦金托什机的过程中，苹果公司的员工开始注意到史蒂夫一直隐藏着一个问题，这个问题给人的感觉就像是闻到了自己身边烂鱼的气味。史蒂夫把麦金托什机的销售市场瞄准了各种类型的办公室，而按照设计规划，“丽莎”电脑的销售市场也是这个方向。这样会造成一种灾难性后果：两种电脑同时推向市场，并且针对的是同样的用户。对苹果公司来说，这是一种很糟糕的情况，但这只是其中一个问题。还有一个问题就是，虽然麦金托什机的结构更紧凑、运行速度更快，价格也更便宜，但它没有游