Mountain Lion easter egg references debut of original Apple Macintosh

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Incomplete downloads in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion show a "Date Modified" of Jan. 24, 1984, a reference to the day when Apple's very first Macintosh was unveiled by Steve Jobs.

The "easter egg" found in the latest version of Apple's Mac operating system was highlighted by Gizmodo on Thursday. The "Date Modified" temporarily shows up in Finder for any download in progress, including applications being downloaded from the Mac App Store.

Jan. 24, 1984, was the date Jobs took to the stage to show off the very first Macintosh in a live demonstration. The presentation from Jobs stirred an audience of more than 3,000 people into a frenzy when the computer read aloud, "Hello, I'm Macintosh. It sure is great to get out of that bag."

The 1984 easter egg found in Mountain Lion joins a number of other small references found within the OS X operating system. One of the most well known are the words on the TextEdit application icon, which features the script for Apple's iconic "Here's to the Crazy Ones" advertisement, which kicked off the "Think Different" campaign.

Jan. 24, 1984


OS X also includes a subtle jab at Windows-based machines. Microsoft's infamous "Blue Screen of Death" can be seen on a plain grey monitor when viewing information about a non-Mac networked computer in OS X.

Below, see Jobs' rousing presentation of the very first Macintosh on Jan. 24, 1984:

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 44
    jollypauljollypaul Posts: 328member


    Haw, great gag. If Apple would finally send my upgrade code, I could enjoy it first hand.

  • Reply 2 of 44


    Typo:  "Jan. 28, 1984, was the date..."

  • Reply 3 of 44
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I love this little egg but why not get the time right or is 3am adjusted for the timezone?
  • Reply 4 of 44
    ghostface147ghostface147 Posts: 1,629member


    OS X has had that subtle jab at Windows shares since SL I believe.  

  • Reply 5 of 44

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by genevish View Post


    Typo:  "Jan. 28, 1984, was the date..."



     


    No, it was definitely Jan. 24, 1984. 

  • Reply 6 of 44
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    mpconnick wrote: »
    No, it was definitely Jan. 24, 1984. 

    His comment was noting that there was a typo in the article showing the 28th instead of the 24th.
  • Reply 7 of 44
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by ghostface147 View Post

    OS X has had that subtle jab at Windows shares since SL I believe.  


     


    Leopard, wasn't it?

  • Reply 8 of 44
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    This brings back so many memories. I was at the Apple HQ in London with all the other owners of Apple Dealerships in the UK around that time where we watched the videos and were handed our first Mac to take home, err I mean to the office (cough) ... I still have that bag and a Mac in it.
  • Reply 9 of 44
    mac_dogmac_dog Posts: 1,069member
    hell, i'd just be happy if it downloaded quickly. at the rate it's going, it'll be next week by the time it completely downloads.
  • Reply 10 of 44
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    To think Steve had already supplied his 'friend' Bill Gates with a Mac when this video was shot and hired his small company, Microsoft to work on an insanely great suite of software for the Mac, Office. I still have all the disks. Little did Steve know the Mac's OS was being reverse engineered and stolen to create Windows for the IBM PC. The might of IBM would later protect Gates from Jobs' wrath. Mind you IBM didn't expect Gates to stab them in the back a few years later ... so it goes ....
  • Reply 11 of 44
    cgjcgj Posts: 276member


    You know, that's pretty awesome.

  • Reply 12 of 44
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    mac_dog wrote: »
    hell, i'd just be happy if it downloaded quickly. at the rate it's going, it'll be next week by the time it completely downloads.

    This would probably be an issue to take up with your ISP, I promise Apple nor the egg have anything to do with your sad situation. /smile
  • Reply 13 of 44
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member


    If the download dropped the connection before completion and left a temp file there what does the date say?


     


    Seems sort of childish to fool around with the date on a computer. You never know how this might screw up some application that depends on proper dates at all times.


     


    Absolutely non UNIX compliant. They should lose their UNIX certification over that.


     


    It is probably not affecting the real date but still just stupid in my opinion

  • Reply 14 of 44
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    mstone wrote: »
    If the download dropped the connection before completion and left a temp file there what does the date say?

    Seems sort of childish to fool around with the date on a computer. You never know how this might screw up some application that depends on proper dates at all times.

    Absolutely non UNIX compliant. They should lose their UNIX certification over that.

    Ouch!
  • Reply 15 of 44
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

    Absolutely non UNIX compliant. They should lose their UNIX certification over that.


     


    Ooh, can this become the new thing? 


     


    "Apple's USB ports provide more power than a standard USB port. Absolutely non-USB compliant. They should lose their USB certification over that."

  • Reply 16 of 44
    ghostface147ghostface147 Posts: 1,629member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Leopard, wasn't it?



    One of the two.  

  • Reply 17 of 44
    dunksdunks Posts: 1,254member
    It also happens to be both the year and date of my birth. :-)
  • Reply 18 of 44
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    His comment was noting that there was a typo in the article showing the 28th instead of the 24th.


    Dooby must mea something else to you.  Get your as outa the chair and stop getting high.

  • Reply 19 of 44
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    mstone wrote: »
    If the download dropped the connection before completion and left a temp file there what does the date say?

    Seems sort of childish to fool around with the date on a computer. You never know how this might screw up some application that depends on proper dates at all times.

    Absolutely non UNIX compliant. They should lose their UNIX certification over that.

    It is probably not affecting the real date but still just stupid in my opinion

    Finder notes it as being January 24, 1984 but Terminal lists it as being the date it was created or modified (forget which one the ls -l command shows). In any case, I don't think this is something to get upset about. Remember this is for temporary .download file. If you have those sitting around on your system then you have bigger issues to worry about.
  • Reply 20 of 44
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    tylerk36 wrote: »
    Dooby must mea something else to you.  Get your as outa the chair and stop getting high.

    What a perfectly reasonable and sane comment. /s
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