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The Macintosh Way
Examines the development of the Macintosh computer, explains how the Apple Computer company is managed, and discusses the computer software industry
224 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1989
10 people are currently reading
696 people want to read
About the author
Guy Kawasaki
94 books2,650 followersI was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1954. My family lived in a tough part of Honolulu called Kalihi Valley. We weren’t rich, but I never felt poor-because my mother and father made many sacrifices for my sister and me. My mother was a housewife, and my father was a fireman, real estate broker, state senator, and government official during his long, distinguished career.
I attended Iolani School where I graduated in 1972. Iolani is not as well known as its rival, Punahou because no presidents of the U. S. went there, but I got a fantastic and formative education there. (Punahou is “USC,” and Iolani is “Stanford”—but I digress.) I pay special tribute to Harold Keables, my AP English teacher.He taught me that the key to writing is editing. No one in the universe would be more shocked that I have written ten books (or one book ten times) than Harold Keables.
After Iolani, I matriculated to Stanford; I graduated in 1976 with a major in psychology—which was the easiest major I could find. I loved Stanford. I sometimes wish I could go back in time to my undergraduate days “on the farm.”
After Stanford, I attended the law school at U.C. Davis because, like all Asian-American parents, my folks wanted me to be a “doctor, lawyer, or dentist.” I only lasted one week because I couldn’t deal with the law school teachers telling me that I was crap and that they were going to remake me.
The following year I entered the MBA program at UCLA. I liked this curriculum much better. While there, I worked for a fine-jewelry manufacturer called Nova Stylings; hence, my first real job was literally counting diamonds. From Nova, its CEO Marty Gruber, and my Jewish colleagues in the jewelry business, I learned how to sell, and this skill was vital to my entire career.
I remained at Nova for a few years until the the Apple II removed the scales from my eyes. Then I went to work for an educational software company called EduWare Services. However, Peachtree Software acquired the company and wanted me to move to Atlanta. “I don’t think so.” I can’t live in a city where people call sushi “bait.”
Luckily, my Stanford roommate, Mike Boich, got me a job at Apple; for giving me my chance at Apple, I owe Mike a great debt. When I saw what a Macintosh could do, the clouds parted and the angels started singing. For four years I evangelized Macintosh to software and hardware developers and led the charge against world-wide domination by IBM. I also met my wife Beth at Apple during this timeframe—Apple has been very good to me.
Around 1987, my job at Apple was done. Macintosh had plenty of software by then, so I left to start a Macintosh database company called ACIUS. It published a product called 4th Dimension. To this day, 4th Dimension remains a great database.
I ran ACIUS for two years and then left to pursue my bliss of writing, speaking, and consulting. I’ve written for Macuser, Macworld, and Forbes. I call these the “Wonder Years” as in “I wonder how I came to deserve such a good life.”
In 1989, I started another software company called Fog City Software with three of the best co-founders in the world: Will Mayall, Kathryn Henkens, and Jud Spencer. We created an email product called Emailer which we sold to Claris and then a list server product called LetterRip.
In 1995 I returned to Apple as an Apple fellow. At the time, according to the pundits, Apple was supposed to die. (Apple should have died about ten times in the past twenty years according to the pundits.) My job on this tour of duty was to maintain and rejuvenate the Macintosh cult.
A couple years later, I left Apple to start an angel investor matchmaking service called Garage.com with Craig Johnson of Venture Law Group and Rich Karlgaard of Forbes. Version 2.0 of Garage.com was an investment bank for helping entrepreneurs raise money from venture capitalists. Today, version 3.0 of Garage.com is called Garage Technology Ven
I attended Iolani School where I graduated in 1972. Iolani is not as well known as its rival, Punahou because no presidents of the U. S. went there, but I got a fantastic and formative education there. (Punahou is “USC,” and Iolani is “Stanford”—but I digress.) I pay special tribute to Harold Keables, my AP English teacher.He taught me that the key to writing is editing. No one in the universe would be more shocked that I have written ten books (or one book ten times) than Harold Keables.
After Iolani, I matriculated to Stanford; I graduated in 1976 with a major in psychology—which was the easiest major I could find. I loved Stanford. I sometimes wish I could go back in time to my undergraduate days “on the farm.”
After Stanford, I attended the law school at U.C. Davis because, like all Asian-American parents, my folks wanted me to be a “doctor, lawyer, or dentist.” I only lasted one week because I couldn’t deal with the law school teachers telling me that I was crap and that they were going to remake me.
The following year I entered the MBA program at UCLA. I liked this curriculum much better. While there, I worked for a fine-jewelry manufacturer called Nova Stylings; hence, my first real job was literally counting diamonds. From Nova, its CEO Marty Gruber, and my Jewish colleagues in the jewelry business, I learned how to sell, and this skill was vital to my entire career.
I remained at Nova for a few years until the the Apple II removed the scales from my eyes. Then I went to work for an educational software company called EduWare Services. However, Peachtree Software acquired the company and wanted me to move to Atlanta. “I don’t think so.” I can’t live in a city where people call sushi “bait.”
Luckily, my Stanford roommate, Mike Boich, got me a job at Apple; for giving me my chance at Apple, I owe Mike a great debt. When I saw what a Macintosh could do, the clouds parted and the angels started singing. For four years I evangelized Macintosh to software and hardware developers and led the charge against world-wide domination by IBM. I also met my wife Beth at Apple during this timeframe—Apple has been very good to me.
Around 1987, my job at Apple was done. Macintosh had plenty of software by then, so I left to start a Macintosh database company called ACIUS. It published a product called 4th Dimension. To this day, 4th Dimension remains a great database.
I ran ACIUS for two years and then left to pursue my bliss of writing, speaking, and consulting. I’ve written for Macuser, Macworld, and Forbes. I call these the “Wonder Years” as in “I wonder how I came to deserve such a good life.”
In 1989, I started another software company called Fog City Software with three of the best co-founders in the world: Will Mayall, Kathryn Henkens, and Jud Spencer. We created an email product called Emailer which we sold to Claris and then a list server product called LetterRip.
In 1995 I returned to Apple as an Apple fellow. At the time, according to the pundits, Apple was supposed to die. (Apple should have died about ten times in the past twenty years according to the pundits.) My job on this tour of duty was to maintain and rejuvenate the Macintosh cult.
A couple years later, I left Apple to start an angel investor matchmaking service called Garage.com with Craig Johnson of Venture Law Group and Rich Karlgaard of Forbes. Version 2.0 of Garage.com was an investment bank for helping entrepreneurs raise money from venture capitalists. Today, version 3.0 of Garage.com is called Garage Technology Ven
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 14, 2009
Handed out at the 1990 MacWorld. OK, I read it. This is not going to be of any interest to anyone except a Mac freak
May 14, 2013
As usual, Guy has the knack of delivering the right content in the right pace and the right way. The things he has written in this book will serve as a guide for any company that wants to climb up to the top. It is about how to treat employees, customers, developer etc and how to evangelize, market, present the product of the company. A very goodread! The more I read, Guy's books, the more it makes me inspire him a lot and becoming a great fan of him.
May 23, 2012
Must read book, and it's now a free eBook download now that Guy has the publishing rights again. I own a hard copy and it motivated me enough to fax a letter to the author when I as done reading it. You remember what fax machines are right? Yah, a snapshot in time.
January 21, 2013
In this book Mr. Kawasaki is presented as a wonderfull and fun person, but the author is biased: it is Mr. Kawasaki himself. I did not like The book nor Mr Kawasaki.
April 11, 2020
A very interesting and idiosyncratic book by a Macintosh insider who has spent much of his career thinking about how best to run businesses. Unfortunately, "interesting" doesn't necessarily translate to "well-written." It's a bit…um…undisciplined. His jokey footnotes, amusing at first, get old after a while. There are useful nuggets of wisdom in here, but they're somewhat overwhelmed by the now-extremely-dated specifics and anecdotes. If you're interested in starting a business that does things "The Macintosh Way," it is probably worthwhile to at least skim this book. If you're a long-time Mac-head that wants a nostalgia rush—well, visiting folklore.org is probably a better fix, but this book will do in a pinch.
September 15, 2020
While there are, admittedly, some well-reasoned business ideas in this work, it seems more like a snapshot of a strange moment in time that didn't age well. There is also as much bad advice in here as there is good, in my experience, so reader beware on that front, too. Brash, brazen, bold, and headstrong, this work screams 'LOOK AT ME!' more than it subtly takes you gently aside to give you genuine assistance in the business world. Still, sort of a fun read for an old geek like me. I also now remember how en vogue is was to give your company a two-work, crammed-together name with double caps like HyperMega and SmartFalluting, etc.
October 2, 2022
The Samurai-ish illustrations were hilarious. Even though the overall is quite bios toward Mac's good work and portrait as a perfectionist view on the corporate, I was sceptical about specific chapters.
Nevertheless, an excellent book for its time and good enough if you're a big Mac fan.
Nevertheless, an excellent book for its time and good enough if you're a big Mac fan.
July 26, 2019
The writing is perfectly serviceable, though without any distinguishing characteristics. It's like those MFA bores all are.
January 2, 2014
It seemed right that I finished reading The Macintosh Way on a bus home from work in a tech district, using my iPad. It explained why I found chapter 16 hilarious.
This is Guy Kawasaki’s first book, written soon after he left Apple and was on top of the world. It shows.
If you can look past the arrogant confidence in each chapter, you can find the story of how Apple built its loyal customer-base. Guy’s first-hand anecdotes of building relationships with suppliers and user groups are worth more than an MBA degree (which Guy would agree with). And best of all, Guy is giving this book away for free. If you want to buy a hard copy, Amazon has it available.
While the tips and stories are useful, his more recent books, will be easier read and have more depth. I still recommend reading The Macintosh Way for chapter 16. Guy gives dating advice – the t-shirt tech way. I have not laughed so much at a book for a long time. Check it out.
Review first published on Tap Dancing Spiders on February 18, 2012
This is Guy Kawasaki’s first book, written soon after he left Apple and was on top of the world. It shows.
If you can look past the arrogant confidence in each chapter, you can find the story of how Apple built its loyal customer-base. Guy’s first-hand anecdotes of building relationships with suppliers and user groups are worth more than an MBA degree (which Guy would agree with). And best of all, Guy is giving this book away for free. If you want to buy a hard copy, Amazon has it available.
While the tips and stories are useful, his more recent books, will be easier read and have more depth. I still recommend reading The Macintosh Way for chapter 16. Guy gives dating advice – the t-shirt tech way. I have not laughed so much at a book for a long time. Check it out.
Review first published on Tap Dancing Spiders on February 18, 2012
December 8, 2011
Hmm - the sentiment of the book was important this is how Macintosh do it, should do it, used to do it. There was a huge amount of passion however the book is the ideolistic view of Guy who by all accounts was asked to leave MacIntosh for not sharing 'the official' macintosh way.
Easy read however. Glad i read it.
Easy read however. Glad i read it.
April 20, 2008
Buku lama yang baru saya temukan dan saya baca. Begitu hebat, sangat tangguh. Berkarakter kuat. Usaha yang keras. Sangat menginspirasi. Cobalah di perusahaan anda, tidak perlu berpikir ulang, lakukanlah..
October 25, 2011
Buku yang menceritakan pengalaman Guy Kawasaki bekerja di Apple Inc dalam memasarkan Macintosh sekaligus sebagai evangelist untuk Apple. Versi digital buku ini bisa didapatkan dari situ Guy Kawasaki: http://guykawasaki.typepad.com/TheMac...
July 15, 2013
I like Guy's writing style. Very conversational. Hip...at least it was when he wrote these early books. Hard to believe now he's just an old guy. He seems to have stayed young and sharp. Silicon Valley and high tech does that to you.
February 5, 2008
My business associate enscribed a hardcopy of to me...
March 6, 2011
This was the book, along with some of his columns, that started my love of Guy's work. A great insight into the way of truly enthusiastic, and evangelistic, business.
April 19, 2011
I consider the primer on current day practice of online community management.
June 2, 2011
yes its dated but it still has some good, interesting information
October 9, 2019
Pure Marketing BS! But well presented.
September 22, 2012
Some dated material, but is practical due to some very common-sense marketing approaches to inspiring customer loyalty.
March 6, 2013
An excellent book about how to engage with the various people that you will encounter in the business world. As a side item, this book was entertaining as I learned more about Apple and The Mac!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews