Welcome to Macintosh

How does one make an honest, compelling documentary about Apple and the Macintosh? You dance a fine line between soap opera and history, and hope that what comes out is accurate while still maintaining the passion that drives the Apple crowd. This film's been getting a reputation as being sort of definitive and loaded with tales of behind-the-scenes stories from people surrounding Apple and the creation of the Macintosh, but while there are interesting accounts of the Mac's history, the scope is rather limited.

Unfortunately, the biggest downfall in this documentary is the handful of individuals that could be reached for interview. Everyone that is interviewed is important, everyone has something to say, and they are people who usually don't have a voice in Apple's history; I'm talking about people like Ron Wayne and Jim Reekes who are big personalities with not a lot of recognition. Then we have Andy Hertzfeld and Guy Kawasaki who are big names, close to the company, and people who like to TALK.

Unfortunately, people like Burrell Smith, Bud Tribble, Bill Atkinson, Steve Capps, the 13-or- so CEOs that Apple's had, and of course, Woz and Steve Jobs, are all very noticeably missing from the film. When it comes to Jobs, I can see how the film could actually benefit from not having him. But to not be able to get more of the core Macintosh dev team, or many other people from the company at the time, that makes the film feel a little flimsy.

An appreciable task was completed here. The film's creators put together nine individuals who tell unique Apple stories from unique points of view, and trimmed it down in to a solid 87 minute outing. While the difficulty that the filmmakers must have faced in getting interviews is understandable, that doesn't change the fact that the overall authenticity and flow of the movie is hurt by the absence of characters. The authenticity suffers from a lack of concurring opinions, and the flow suffers from gaps in the story's time line.

There is a hugely compelling reason to buy this DVD, however, and that is in the special features. The filmmakers have VERY wisely chosen to include the complete interviews with each interviewee, adding up to almost three hours of stories and trivia that really seem more entertaining than the film itself. While the overall disc probably isn't terribly compelling to everyone, Apple history buffs will really enjoy the extended interview footage.

A solid 7 out of 10 for the movie with extra content, 5 or 6 out of 10 for the documentary on its own.

I should probably state at the very beginning that I am not a Windows user nor I am a Mac user either. I use both: but I do use Windows more. The simple reason behind that is every time I use a Mac, I stumble upon a software that I need and is not supported by a Mac machine. It never happened to me the other way around. Now, to the movie. I was really hyped about watching this documentary, I was oh so hyped about learning new things and details behind the rise of Apple, Inc. I won't beat around the bush. I learned nothing new, nothing interesting at least. The movie is basically a couple of mostly older men talking about how amazing Apple is. Literally. Yes, there is a little bit of history included, but, interestingly, it's mostly the victories that got noticed and the failures got smartly omitted, and the history part is limited to the very beginnings when Steves Jobs and Wozniak founded the company (and how they didn't do it to make money, which is also repeatedly reported). Some of the stories are just plain BORING. Another worrying conclusion coming from the movie is that Steve Jobs is the only reason why Apple is a success, and it's clearly stated throughout the picture. Which brings us to an assumption that after Jobs dies, the Apple will die with him. I'm not wishing him death, of course, but it's a human thing to die. That is, of course, if Steve Jobs is in deed a human, about what I'm not as sure as I was before watching the movie. Somewhere around the first half of the movie, I even got offended. I don't appreciate how Mac users always swagger, saying things like "those Windows people think they're so smart" or similar. It even happened to me personally, being treated like a computer user of a worse category, because I use Windows. I honestly never heard Windows users say anything like that about Mac users. I wonder why is that. As a user of both systems, I find it a little bit childish and unfair. It seems Apple's long time strategy is to attack Microsoft, which is just distasteful. Even people connected for many years with Apple, in their interviews admitted shamelessly at some point that it's not the functionality why the company is so successful, but the cult behind it (saying that they have many iPods in their houses, but they never use them, because they're a pain in the ass). Overall, the movie turned me off of this company. It seems Apple is like a balloon: yes it's beautiful and sleek and colorful, and yes it's flair is in its simplicity, but it's also empty and fragile. And one more thing about the movie: I watched it with a true Mac-fanatic. He's fallen asleep before the first hour had passed.

Yep, all we get is a bunch of soundbites from irrelevant people. Not one of them can finish a thought before being kicked off for someone else who cannot finish a thought.

There is no chronology or details or consistency, let alone documentary.

With all the excellent choices of personal and small business computers in the world Apple was just a side note. Now long after the Macintosh has turned into a doorstop, and Apple has moved on it would have been nice to see a real documentary of this forgotten era.

Macintosh has come and gone decades ago and if anyone remembers this or wants to remember this critter thar are a lot more places that give just the facts with out all the fluff.