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As the Mac turns 40, a tip of the hat to Mr. Macintosh

Steve Jobs once commissioned Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon to come up with an illustrated character that would "live" in every Mac machine and surprise the owner: Mr. Macintosh, aka Mac Man.

Wishing the Mac a happy birthday, the Folon Foundation shared a little-known anecdote: That Steve Jobs once commissioned Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon to come up with an illustrated character that would “live” in every machine and surprise the owner: Mr. Macintosh, aka Mac Man. “The software team was swamped with more essential work, so we deferred implementing Mr. Macintosh for a while.” But after meeting Folon, “whose work was imbued with a humorous, playfully profound sensibility that [Steve Jobs] thought would be perfect for Mr. Macintosh,” Apple’s co-founder invited the artist to “visit the Mac team in Cupertino for a demo and a potential commission.” But Apple eventually had to abandon its ambitions for Mr. Macintosh “due to the scarcity of ROM, disk space and development time.”

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