An amazing documentary called “Lisa: Steve Jobs’ sabotage and Apple’s secret burial”launched by The Vergereveals how computers Apple Lisaconceived by Steve Jobs in the 1980s, were momentarily rescued from a fatal fate until they ended up in a landfill.
This intriguing account reveals the ins and outs of the transition from these computers to the acclaimed Macintosh and sheds light on other players involved in this story.
As it explains applesphereContrary to popular belief, the unfortunate fate of the Apple Lisa was not caused by a whim of Steve Jobs, but instead involved more people in an attempt to revive these computers after being scrapped by the co-founder of Apple.
The half-hour documentary, available for free on YouTube, reveals how Jobs abruptly decided to ditch the Lisa to focus on the up-and-coming Macintosh, eager to bury his predecessor’s legacy and encourage adoption of the new line of computers. , which still exists in current models.
Bob, Lisa’s failed hero
However, a key character appeared in this story: Bob Cook, a retailer specializing in Apple products that, given the difficulties he was experiencing with sales, he saw an opportunity in the Lisa.
Bob began by buying surplus Apple IIIs that the company had stored after it stopped selling them. These computers were offered at discounted prices because they were older models, and Apple allowed Bob to pay for them in installments. The figure amounted to no less than 3,500 units.
This hero became Apple’s preferred “recycler” and his strategy worked so well that the company contacted him again when they ran into a similar problem. with the 7,000 Lisa piling up in warehouses after Steve Jobs stopped endorsing them.
But this time more obstacles arose: some computers had missing components or technical failures. Bob decided to install an alternative operating system that emulated that of the Macintosh and add new expansion options to the Lisa, with the aim of making them more attractive for the market of the time.
Although this initiative involved an investment of more than 200,000 dollars, once again the move was successful. Apple, for its part, was glad that Lisa users could count on support, even if it wasn’t official.
However, everything changed in 1989. Apple demanded that Bob return all the Lisa. Faced with the impossibility of facing the powerful legal team of Cupertino, a truck was sent to take all the units of these computers, and their final destination was the Logan City landfill, where they were buried.
The rest of the details of this interesting story can be seen in the documentary, below.