The Lisa is the computer that Apple used to introduce the GUI and the mouse. It was far too expensive, and after getting booted from the development of the machine, Steve Jobs wandered around the company until he took over the Macintosh project from Jeff Raskin.
The new, smaller computer packed Lisa-inspired technology at a much lower price. Since history honors winners, the Mac is the computer people remember.
That’s not to say the Lisa isn’t worth knowing about. I realized recently the machine’s 35th anniversary is coming up, so I spent a bunch of time researching the computer and it’s ground-breaking software for my column on MacStories this month. It’s on the long side, but if you use a Mac or iOS device, this computer is where much of the magic started.