This Week in Tech History: Project Lisa

Just 30 years ago, during the week of July 25 to 31, the Steves of Silicon Valley officially embarked on their "Lisa" project (named after Apple chief Steve Jobs' daughter) — which, if it had been successful back in 1979, would have been the first personal computer with a graphical user interface (or simply, GUI). But after the project manager for Lisa gave the Apple chief the bad news that the ambitious project could not be done for a sub-$2,000 computer, Jobs unceremoniously canned the "uncooperative" manager, which serves as an example of his fierce style that came to define the iconic company.

Lisa actually was conceived in 1978 (the idea for the project, not the girl), but it wasn't until the week of July 25, 1979, that its development as a product began.

Three years later — during the exact same week of July 25 — the Lisa team was able to get all the software humming together in harmony. It was released in January of 1983, but fell victim to a shortage of supplies and then of course was eclipsed by the game-changing Macintosh.

And 20 years ago during the same week in July, believe it or not, is when U.S. District Judge William W. Schwarzer ruled in favor of rising star (and exceptionally lucky company) Microsoft by critically limiting the scope of Apple's lawsuit against the software giant for allegedly ripping off its Macintosh GUI for use in the Windows operating system. We all know how that turned out.

It just so happens that last week, this year, is when I finally updated my Mac Mini because of the diminishing utility caused by planned obsolescence. Me, bitter? Not a bit.