25th anniversary video: Steve Jobs unveils the Mac
January 24, 2009: 5:08 AM ET
The famous Ridley Scott "Big Brother" commercial -- shown once on Super Bowl Sunday, Jan. 22, 1984 -- was only a teaser.
The Mac's real 25th birthday dates from Jan. 24, when the machine went on sale and a dapper-looking Steve Jobs -- dressed in double-breasted blazer and green bow tie -- unveiled it at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts near Apple (AAPL) headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
You're likely see clips from the Super Bowl ad more than once this weekend. (It's pasted in full below the fold.)
But my favorite video from the launch of the Macintosh is the one recorded 25 years ago at the Flint Center by Scott Knaster, restored and digitized by TextLab, and available today on YouTube.
It's a lovely period piece, with plenty of cheesy Jobsian stagecraft and a crowd that goes nonlinear over features we now take for so much for granted, the effect is unintentionally comical.
The Flint Center video:
Below the fold: The Ridley Scott commercial.
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