October 3, 1979: What Should a Mac Do?

When Jef Raskin first conceived of the Mac he envisioned a low cost computer. After a cost investigation revealed that there was no way Apple could produce the Mac and sell it at Jef's target price of $500 it was clear the concept would have to be tweaked.

Steve Jobs was undaunted by the revelation and told Jef Raskin to forget about the price and specify what he wanted the machine to do.

Jeff's reply to Jobs' request included:
A built in color printer that produced images at 1000 by 1200 resolution at a rate of one page per minute. A flat screen monitor, pocketable memory that sells for fifty cents a megabyte. Free access to ARPAnet, music synthesization capabilities and a veritable army of programming languages.

The memo was a dry, sarcastic response to what Jef thought was a patently ridiculous request to begin with. The request that got Jef Raskin's ire up and sarcasm flowing was made this week in 1979.