Apple Lisa documentary will tell the story of Cupertino’s most important ‘flop’

A new documentary called Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa promises to tell the story of one of Apple’s most important flops.

Directed by computer historian (and Apple collector) David Greelish, the movie will feature interviews with key players in the machine’s development. It also will place the Lisa in its proper context — as one of the most influential computers of all time.

“Apple’s Lisa workstation followed closely after another infamous market failure, the Apple III,” Greelish told Cult of Mac. “Though the Apple III did influence Apple internally, with its superior file system, it generally failed all-around. The Lisa however, though failing commercially, has inspired all of personal computing since. Both inside of Apple with the creation of the Macintosh, and then outside the company, most notably with Microsoft Windows.”

The Lisa was Apple’s first attempt at a computer with a WIMP (windows, icons, mouse pointer) interface. While we associate many of these innovations with 1984’s Mac, the Lisa actually introduced them to a general audience.

Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa

Until recently, most Apple-centric documentaries focused solely on Steve Jobs. That changed in the last year or so, though, as we’ve seen movies about everything from the Newton MessagePad to General Magic, the startup co-founded by members of the original Mac team.

Read more at Cultofmac.com