Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
40 Years Ago, Drexel Made Computer -- and Apple -- History
https://drexel.edu/news/archive/2024/March/drexel-apple-40th-anniversary-macintosh-19841984
In the early 1980s, Drexel became the first university in the country to require all students to have a personal computer, a mandate made possible through a first-of-its-kind partnership with Apple Inc.
“The freshmen now entering Drexel [in the early 1980s] will spend the greater portion of their professional lives in the 21st century, in an environment in which the computer will be an everyday, even commonplace tool. … In every field of endeavor the successful practitioner will utilize computer technology in order to understand and deal with the challenges of everyday life,” declared Drexel University’s then-president, William W. Hagerty, PhD, in 1982.
With that proclamation, Drexel announced that all incoming students starting in 1983 would need access to a personal microcomputer — a first within higher education that earned Drexel a national reputation as a bold and technologically advanced institution.
The University doubled down on that reputation when it secured a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Apple Computer, Inc. company (today’s Apple Inc.). Students, and most of the faculty, received a discounted, brand-new Apple Macintosh personal computer in early 1984 — before it was available to the general public.
“The freshmen now entering Drexel [in the early 1980s] will spend the greater portion of their professional lives in the 21st century, in an environment in which the computer will be an everyday, even commonplace tool. … In every field of endeavor the successful practitioner will utilize computer technology in order to understand and deal with the challenges of everyday life,” declared Drexel University’s then-president, William W. Hagerty, PhD, in 1982.
With that proclamation, Drexel announced that all incoming students starting in 1983 would need access to a personal microcomputer — a first within higher education that earned Drexel a national reputation as a bold and technologically advanced institution.
The University doubled down on that reputation when it secured a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Apple Computer, Inc. company (today’s Apple Inc.). Students, and most of the faculty, received a discounted, brand-new Apple Macintosh personal computer in early 1984 — before it was available to the general public.
And at a (fires up calculator app) 60% discount.
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates show eliminating competition isn’t the only way to win
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates’ rivalrous friendship is the stuff of tech lore. The most poignant moment of that fraught relationship happened 20 years ago. In August of 1997, Gates stepped in and saved Apple, which, at the time, was on the brink of bankruptcy.
“Bill, thank you. The world’s a better place,” Jobs told Gates after the Microsoft exec agreed to make a $150 million investment in Apple.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/29/steve-jobs-and-bill-gates-what-happened-when-microsoft-saved-apple.html
Bill made beaucoup bucks, of which VERY FORTUNATELY, Half went to Melinda French Gates, philanthropist.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/melinda-gates-interview-politics
But this spring French Gates made her first-ever presidential endorsement, for Joe Biden. The time was right, she tells me, because she believes a second term with Donald Trump “would be dangerous” to reproductive rights and gender parity. (In response to her endorsement, Musk tweeted, “Might be the downfall of Western civilization.” French Gates saw the post: “I think it was silly.”)
In July, when Biden announced he wouldn’t seek reelection, French Gates waited only two days before publicly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris—with whom she’s worked several times, including on an agriculture initiative leading up to Harris’s 2023 visit to Africa. They were seated together at a state dinner this year. “We are like-minded on many issues,” French Gates tells me when we speak the week of Harris’s historic step-up—and they are, from paid family leave to reproductive rights. “I’m not specific about any candidate—how much money I put behind her campaign,” she says, though she characterizes her Harris-Walz donations as “substantial.” And true to her vision of giving, she has offered more than just money to the campaign as well, including the opportunity for French Gates to host an event. “We’re in touch regularly about that—and more to come.”
“I could not have been more proud of the current president, Joe Biden,” she adds, “what he did, the courage and the humility to say, ‘Okay, I need to pass the baton. The time has come.’ He has worked so hard for this country over so many years, but it takes courage to step aside. He did the right thing for the country.”
After years of keeping quiet on partisan issues, “It feels right to use my voice in this way because we have places in society that we need to get; quite honestly, we’re behind other high-income countries. And so now in particular to have a candidate like Kamala in the race…” she says, pausing. “She sees the issues society faces today. She’s not an old-school ‘Let’s have all males at the table.’ She sees what working couples are going through, male and female.”
In July, when Biden announced he wouldn’t seek reelection, French Gates waited only two days before publicly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris—with whom she’s worked several times, including on an agriculture initiative leading up to Harris’s 2023 visit to Africa. They were seated together at a state dinner this year. “We are like-minded on many issues,” French Gates tells me when we speak the week of Harris’s historic step-up—and they are, from paid family leave to reproductive rights. “I’m not specific about any candidate—how much money I put behind her campaign,” she says, though she characterizes her Harris-Walz donations as “substantial.” And true to her vision of giving, she has offered more than just money to the campaign as well, including the opportunity for French Gates to host an event. “We’re in touch regularly about that—and more to come.”
“I could not have been more proud of the current president, Joe Biden,” she adds, “what he did, the courage and the humility to say, ‘Okay, I need to pass the baton. The time has come.’ He has worked so hard for this country over so many years, but it takes courage to step aside. He did the right thing for the country.”
After years of keeping quiet on partisan issues, “It feels right to use my voice in this way because we have places in society that we need to get; quite honestly, we’re behind other high-income countries. And so now in particular to have a candidate like Kamala in the race…” she says, pausing. “She sees the issues society faces today. She’s not an old-school ‘Let’s have all males at the table.’ She sees what working couples are going through, male and female.”
