Comment by HarHarVeryFunny
7 months ago
The Lisa product - a business-focussed follow on to the Apple II, was initiated before Jobs visited Xerox, but nonetheless copied Xerox's Alto GUI.
https://computerhistory.org/blog/the-lisa-apples-most-influe...
Lisa attracted a lot of interest, but was outrageously expensive (~$50K in 2025 dollars) as well as being slow. The Mac in its final form is best regarded as a cheaper performant Lisa.
Three things to add:
1. Neither the Lisa nor Mac "copied" the Alto. They took inspiration, but again, the Lisa project began before the team ever visited Xerox. These ideas were in the air in SV, but no one had figured out how to commercialize it. Sort of like conversational UI circa 2015.
2. The Mac was more than a warmed-over Lisa. If you use both, you'll see how much more polished and complete the Mac is.
3. The Mac was a product where the price point really mattered, and was part of the product identity. You can't have "the computer for the rest of us" at the Lisa's price point. Getting that retail price down required a ton of ingenious software and hardware engineering, which was driven forward relentlessly by Jobs.