01 · Historical archive
Apple Lisa · 1978 — 1983
The Intersection of Silicon and Paternity
The story behind the origin of the Apple Lisa: the computer that defined an era and the daughter Steve Jobs tried to hide behind a corporate acronym.
02 · Introduction
Two endeavors with the same name
In the spring of 1978, as Apple Computer drafted the architecture for its most ambitious machine to date—a corporate powerhouse designed to supplant the Apple II—a child was born on a farming commune in Oregon. Both endeavors, the labyrinth of silicon and the human life, would come to share a single name: Lisa.
03 · Testimony
“Bono [U2 lead singer] asked my father if the computer was named after me. There was an eternal pause. Then he said: ‘Yeah, it was.’ I tensed up. It was as if 30 years of corporate myths evaporated in a second.”
04 · Document query
Ask the archive.
Ask about the Apple Lisa, the origin of its name, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, the backronym, its chronology, its price, or the people who are part of this story.
Answers come from the documentary archive curated by Fast Forward Communication and from the sources identified in its bibliography. No external real-time queries are made.
05 · Bibliography
Bibliographic References
- Nellie Bowles. The New York Times. 2018-08-27. (opens in a new tab)
- W. Isaacson. Steve Jobs. New York, NY, USA: Simon & Schuster. 2011. (opens in a new tab)
- L. Brennan-Jobs. Small Fry. New York, NY, USA: Grove Press. 2018. (opens in a new tab)
- A. Hertzfeld. The Lisa Computer System. Folklore.org. 1983. (opens in a new tab)
- O. W. Linzmayer. Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company. San Francisco, CA, USA: No Starch Press. 2004. (opens in a new tab)
- M. Moritz. Return to the Little Kingdom: Steve Jobs, the Creation of Apple, and How It Changed the World. New York, NY, USA: Overlook Press. 2009. (opens in a new tab)
- Lisa Brennan-Jobs. Wikipedia. (opens in a new tab)
- Emma Brockes. The Guardian. (opens in a new tab)
- Hansen Hsu. The Lisa: Apple's Most Influential Failure. Computer History Museum. 2023-01-19. (opens in a new tab)
- Apple Lisa. Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. (opens in a new tab)