History Repeats Itself
The 20th Anniversary Mac
"History does not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme." –Mark Twain
I was talking with Andy Runton today, who recently purchase a BulletTrain Express. Andy is an amazing comic book artist and he does the amazing OWLY comic book. Andy mentioned to me that the BulletTrain Express reminded him of the keyboard that came with the special Limited Edition 20th Anniversary Macintosh (1997) as seen below.
It is remarkable, upon reflection and investigation, how similar the BulletTrain Express Keyboard Platform for the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad is to the 20th Anniversary Mac keyboard. Even the 20th Anniversary Mac keyboard had a trackpad that was removable!!!!
Below is a 20th Anniversary Mac Video overview by Jonathan Ive:
The 20th Anniversary Mac appears to be the first desktop computer that came with a keyboard that had a laptop keyboard form factor, which lacked the numeric keyboard and had a built in wrist wrest.
The 20th Anniversary Mac appears to be the first desktop computer that came with a keyboard that had a laptop keyboard form factor, which lacked the numeric keyboard and had a built in wrist wrest.
1995 Monorail Computer
The First All-In-One Flat-Screen Computer
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." –Albert Einstein
Barbara Everett once said "Irony is only hypocrisy with style," and I must must admit it seems ironic to me that the now icon 20th anniversary Mac was not the first commercial desktop computer with a built in flat LCD screen. In 1995 a computer company named Monorail introduced The Monorail computer as seen above and it ran Windows 95.
It was pretty innovative for its time and it was not only a flat screen desktop computer, but it also had a built-in CD ROM drive that popped out its left side. When Apple introduced the second generations white iMac, it brought back memories of the Monorail. I always remembered the Monorail brand, because the name monorails, always remind me of Bullet Trains ;-) I imagine the point of this, is that it's all derivative–in one way or another.
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