That ad for the fledgling Macintosh computer is one of the most renowned in advertising history. An athletic young woman sprints through a zombie-like audience and hurls a hammer that smashes the giant screen image of Big Brother, a barely disguised symbol for IBM's "Big Blue" and its kludgy personal computer.

What then went on sale was a revolutionary product: a computer with a graphic interface of icons and windows, all manipulated by what was whimsically referred to as the "mouse," in addition to the keyboard. The display was nestled atop the workings of the computer, all in one enclosure. None of the elements pulled together by Steve Jobs' team at Apple computer was completely original, but it was combined, along with easy-to-use software, into a unique package.

Those of us who were early acolytes of this new "computer for the rest of us" have our own recollections of the Macintosh's eventful history. I no doubt qualify as an early adopter, having acquired a 512 Mac barely a year after its debut. I needed a computer to write my dissertation at UCLA, and even then my mind was inadequate and unwilling to memorize the arcane code that was required to coax productive work out of the IBM PC and its MS-DOS software.

Over the last 19 years I have had the opportunity to get to know and mostly to enjoy nine different Macs. Seven of those were my own and the other two were provided by my employer. All were desktop models; except for a clamshell iBook my wife and I still use. Generally, as I have moved up in speed, power and features, I have passed my older Macs on to family members to encourage their participation in the clan.

So, what do I think of the Mac now that it has reached the ripe old age of 20 years? From a strictly personal perspective, I have no doubt that my 17-inch flat panel iMac, ripping along with OS X, is by far the greatest version of the venerable Mac I have ever used. But from a broader perspective, I think that CEO Steve Jobs and Apple are engaged in the most exciting ventures ever.

The top-of­the-line iMac has moved up to a 20-inch display and continues to be improved in speed and power. The eMac, originally for the education market, now gives consumers an entry-level model at less than $800, and for $300 more the hard drive's capacity is doubled and the optical drive can burn DVDs, as well as CDs.

The iBook is now equipped with the more powerful G4 processor and starts, with a 12.1" display, at less than $1100. The top model, with a 14.1" display and twice the hard drive capacity is $300 more. The PowerBook offers two 12.1" models, starting at under $1300, two at15", starting at under $2000, and one with a 17" screen for less than $3000.

No doubt the greatest improvement in the last year was made in the professional G5 Power Macs. Regardless of whether this new version is literally, as Jobs claims, "the fastest desktop computer in the world," it is certainly much faster than its predecessors and is in the very top rank for speed among all personal computers.

One of the most fascinating uses of the new G5s was to connect 1100 of them at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, producing the world's third fastest super computer. The Institute's staff accomplished this with student volunteers in just seven weeks for $7 million. The world's fastest machine, in Japan, cost at least $250 million and the next fastest, at Los Alamos National Laboratory, was built for $215 million. The VPI super computer is already being upgraded, using Apple's new Xserve, which will reduce the space it requires by two-thirds.

Apple has expanded into the consumer market with its iPod, a portable jukebox introduced in 2001. The iPod starts at $299 and now can store as many as 10,000 songs. Apple sold more than 700,000 units over the 2003 holiday season and last month introduced the mini iPod for $250.

Introduced to store and play music on the Mac, iTunes is now the gateway to the Apple Music Store. This new venture takes Apple into the Windows realm, and more than 30 million songs have been downloaded at 99 cents each, or $9.99 for most albums.

iTunes is part of iLife, a suite of creative programs for doing what is fun on the computer, which also includes iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD. Last month a new member of the suite, GarageBand, was introduced. This program enables even those of us who can't play a note to create our own music on the Mac.

At 20 years of age, the Macintosh may not have achieved what it should have; that is, to be the primary operating system on the world's computers. In fact, it now holds less than a five percent market share. But what it has done consistently is to be creative and to introduce innovations that are often copied by other computer and software producers. It is the computer of choice for many of the most creative professionals. As Roger Ebert, the movie reviewer, recently observed, if an anthropologist of the future had as his only evidence the frequent appearances of Macs in films, he would conclude that the Macintosh was by far the dominant computer of our era.

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