RETRO TECH: MACINTOSH video on youtube (and a reverse history lesson for old people)

[Trixter]

So I ran across this today (do not watch without reading the entire post first):

...and, once I'd re-learned to keep my stomach acid where it belongs, found it to be a very interesting lesson in how generational gaps affect the perception of reality:

• For younger people, the video is a look back at an influential computer that gives them a superficial understanding of what it was like to use it (and I do give the video props for showing a lot of the computer actually in use).
• For older people who know the Macintosh better, the video is a "reverse history lesson" that teaches us how younger people react to older tech, how they try to identify with it, and how they try to glean meaning from something that is iconic that they did not, and never can, experience first-hand. It is a meta-lesson for us older people, whose initial reaction is to scream at our screens when they get facts or history wrong -- yes, much of the video is wrong and superficial, but the effort put into trying to understand the history, with a cultural language they don't speak, is wistfully hopeful and encouraging.

Rather than list the myriad of historical and operational errors in the video, I'd like to list things the video taught me about how Millennials (the majority of the people in the video, as well as the video's target audience) react to vintage tech:

• They appear to recognize how difficult it was to create pixel art, and appreciate it.
• They like the keyboard. The travel of the keys and the "clunk" was different, which they found interesting, and didn't stop the host from typing at least one full page into macwrite.
• They *really* like the power switch. The host even stated that he prefers it to every other power switch on every other computer he currently owns.
• They note the absence of arrow keys, make a connection that maybe Apple was trying to push people towards using the mouse for movement, and then liken that to modern Apple which has been removing ports and media options to push people in a similar way. They like Apple, but they are also critical of Apple at that moment, and that was enlightening.

Makes me wonder if the loss of tactile interfaces was a good or bad thing. A little of both, probably.

Also of note: There is a complete-in-box Mac in the video that gets unboxed. It's extraordinarily complete, down to the stickers and the little plastic sleeves on the DSDD disks. I would LOVE to know how and where the production crew sourced that, whether it was a purchase or a rental, and what the acquisition cost was. Hoping someone here can chime in, now that the NDA for the video has likely expired (since it's been posted publicly).