Source code of Apple’s LISA to be revived

The Operating System of Apple’s first personal computer to offer a graphical user interface (GUI) in a machine, Lisa, is being released to the public after roughly 35 years of its initial release. The Computer History Museum has revealed that the source code of the OS has been recovered and is under review by Apple prior to its release to the public.

A staff person of the Computer History Museum said that the source code of both the OS and the applications have been recovered and will make it publicly available in 2018 after Apple has reviewed the code.

It is worth noting that this is not a third party effort and is being directly handled by Apple itself, contrary to the significant number of Lisa emulators available in the market.

The Lisa was released in 1983 and retailed for $10,000 at that time. It was the first device to support a graphical user interface and support for a mouse. Despite this, the machine failed to make its mark in the market, managing to sale a mere amount of 10,000 units.

It is said that the failure of the Lisa was one of the main reasons Steve Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT computers. Jobs was ultimately brought back to Apple after his venture, NeXT computers were bought by Apple.