Apple fires 'smug little twit'

The Inquirer ^ | 11/9/2006 | Nick Farell

[Vermonter]

No the other one

By Nick Farrell: Thursday 09 November 2006, 08:51

MAKER OF entertainment gear, Apple has decided to dump its 'Mac Guy' advertisements because the character is a 'smug little twit'. According to Radar Online, the advertising campaign was designed to show a PC guy and a Mac Guy talking about the advantages of their different systems. Of course the Mac Guy was supposed to win the argument.

Alas while viewing audiences felt that while the Mac Guy may have proved his case, most of them wanted to pummel the smug little twit into a coma and jump on his bleeding body until the cops arrived.

In fact most of them liked the PC guy, John Hodgman, better, which was not really the point.

The Mac Guy was Justin Long, whose agent has confirmed that he is no longer hawking Macs for Apple and was getting on with his memorable film career. When the ads came out, Seth Stevenson, ad critic for Slate, complained that Long was just the sort of unshaven, hoodie-wearing, hands-in-pockets hipster we've always imagined when picturing a Mac enthusiast.

[UncleSamUSA]

As long as we're at it, can we PUH-LEEZE can that idiotic "Caveman" on the Geico commercials.... PUH-LEEZE.

[hedgetrimmer]

I was always reminded of a young Steve Jobs,when I saw that commercial-- he was the quintessential unshaven mac user and I am sure the resemblence was intentional.

[eeevil conservative]

LOL!!!

I have no idea how to use an Apple...but if anything ever made me want one-- it was those commercials!

I thought they were AWESOME!

I am sure they will do something less offensive... like use Paris Hilton humping a car... or some blond in heels kick guys in bars.....much better...

[Musket]

Lol. And ya know the guy smells bad just by looking at him.

[JSteff]

"Sums up the typical Mac-fanatic and also most/all members of the Demagogic Party. [not that Microsoftheads offer anything better!!]"

Both sides need to take it easy. Too many people forget that computers are just appliances sold as such.

Practically nothing for anyone to get their shorts all bunched up over. Particularly now that the differences between Macs and PCs grows smaller every day.

Microsoft office, run Windows, Intel Chip sets, Intel CPU's. Microsoft and Intel are the Borg of the computing world anyway.

Mac's will be assimilated... and maybe that is the best thing for the Apple shareholders..

Gosh rivalries are fun.

[JSteff]

"Ad critic" is listed on his job function under "other duties as assigned."

And it is probably a part time, entry level job anyway.

[retrokitten]

For sure. Every office has one just like him.

[bygolly]

Actually I think of Mac Users kinda like the way I feel about BMW drivers...

anyhoo, when microcomputers started appearing in the mid 70's, I bought one of the kits below...I even got it to work. That was really fun, buying 4k memory boards, programming in assembly, storing programs to cassette tape if you didn't have an 8" or 5 1/4" floppy (when floppy really meant floppy), etc.

It now resides in a closet, taken out and turned on every few years to remember "the good times!"

Processor Technology
Sol-20 Terminal Computer

Released:	June 1976
Price:	US $2129 assembled
	US $995 as a kit
How many:	approximately 10,000
CPU:	Intel 8080, 2.0 MHz
RAM:	1K, 64K max
Display:	64 X 16 text
Expansion:	S-100 bus with 5 slots
Ports:	serial, parallel, cassette
Storage:	external cassette
	optional floppy drive
OS:	BASIC, CP/M

Named for "The wisdom of Solomon", or possibly Popular Electronics magazine editor Les Solomon, since the Sol-20 made its first appearance on the cover of that magazine.

Electronics Engineer and "Home Brew Computer Club" president Lee Felsenstein designed the Sol-20, as well as the famous Osborne 1 computer five years later.



Like many other computers, the Sol-20 was envisioned as something other than what it became. Originally designed as a simple terminal to communicate with other devices, it evolved into a full-fledged S-100 based computer.

The Sol started out as the Sol-PC, a single circuit board without a case or power supply. It was sold as a $475 kit, which was assembled by the purchaser, or fully assembled for $745.

From this came the Sol-10 and Sol-20. They both have the Sol-PC as the motherboard, but include a case, keyboard and power supply. The '10' lacks the vertical expansion backplane of the '20', as seen below, and the '10' also has a simpler keyboard, a smaller power supply, and cost about $200 less. Actually, very few, if any, Sol-10 computer were sold, but advertisements and articles from 1977 do mention it.

As one of the first personal computers with an built-in keyboard, the Sol-20 is very stylish, with a blue metal case and actual walnut side panels. Not many commercially available computer have wooden components! (Update: Both the NorthStar Horizon and Ohio Scientific C2-4P also have wooden parts)



The expansion cards in the Sol-20 fit horizontally, but are very tight - some cards have to be removed two at a time because the components on one cards will hit those of an adjacent cards during removal. Why didn't they make the system taller with more room? Apparently the wood side panels determined the system size - the panels were only (cheaply) available in these dimensions.

About 10,000 (mostly Sol-20s) were sold - approximately 5,000 kits and 5,000 assembled units. The kits were half the price, but risky to assemble - it might not ever work, and you won't get your money back.

---

Like all early computer systems, data storage was usually on cassette tape drives, since they were cheap and abundant - the Sol even has the cassette interface built-in. But tapes are very slow and often fail to save or load the data properly.

Enter the Helios II Disk Memory System, the giant dual 8-inch floppy drive system for the Sol-20. Also available as a kit or fully assembled (it was an interesting time...), the Helios II cost $1895 (kit) or $2295 assembled.



The Helios II is built around the Persci 8-inch dual drive, and can store 384K of data per disk. This drive has to be the most unique drive in existance:

• There is just one motor which spins both floppy disks simultaneously.
• There is a single linear positioning servo which moves the heads for both drives at the same time.
  
• The hub and head can be electro-mechanically disengaged from one floppy disk independently of the other.
• The floppy disks are electro-mechanically ejected - use the push button to request the disk to be returned to you.
• Data can be copied from one disk to the other without utilizing the host computer's processor.
  In effect, you have two drives for a lower price.
  Unfortunately, due to the complexity, the Helios II Disk Memory Systems is unreliable and requires periodic re-calibration.
  
  Why is there so much empty space inside the Helios II? If you have the Helios II model 4, there are two dual-drives for a total of four floppy drives.
  
  

  Related Links

• The Sol-20 archive
• Lee Felsenstein from Smart Computing Encylopedia
• Sol-20 from DigiBarn
• "Sol: The Inside Story" (PDF)
• Persci floppy drives & Processor Tech from Herb's S-100 Stuff
  
  
  
  

[uncle fenders]

Somewhere out there is a video compilation, it shows the infallible apple computers messing up at demos. basically its the apple going to the infamous microsoft blue screen ,ha ha, My favorite part is when they try to load and run a game on the system, man the thing really chokes on it, oh yeah remember how easy the mac works with cameras in their commercial? Watch the experts try to figure out how to even plug it in, turn it on, etc. A real hoot.

[irv]

I figure it, the lower orders have a perfect right to by inferior products if they wish.

So Mac folks are so good they don't need spelling? Sounds just about right.

Buy buy - I mean, bye bye!

[dennisw]

I'm not in the market for an Apple but those smug twit advertisements made sure I would never buy one

[CedarDave]

That is unbelievably unfounded. I personally think you'd be surprised. My honest guess? I bet there are more Mac users here as a percentage of posters than at DU.

LOL. I have absolutely no idea! Just thought it fit as they are "smug little twits" over there.

[CedarDave]

Once a nation of computers starts running bloatware at half speed, Macs will look a lot better.

That's for sure. Not looking forward to Vista, at all.

[Bill_o'Rights]

I still like the former Dell guy ("Dude!"........), despite his dustup with a pot charge.
This guy?

[Thumper1960]

The Market has spoken for years.

[Ms. AntiFeminazi]

But he was so cute with his big crush on Carol Vessie on Ed! :(

[Mjaye]

Yep, that's the one. Too bad he didn't keep out of trouble, he was a hoot for awhile, sort of an Eddie Haskell type.

[pcottraux]

Dude!

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Yes, it was real. And it was broadcast nationwide.

[CedarDave]

Mac zealots are like libs, IMHO. They think they're smarter than everyone else. That must be when I hang out with my friend at the computer store one Lib after another is there buying them (you know Libs when you see them).

And they drive to the store in their Volvo's. All libs have a Volvo.