As seen on TV (front) As seen on TV (back) As seen on TV CD

The front of the slip cover (left), the rear (center) and the CD itself (right) of Power Computing's "As seen on TV" marketing CD, which (via a Macromedia Director and Quicktime presentation) presented itself as a flip through the channels of low-budget news shows, cheesy infomercials and a grainy 1958-style black-and-white film.

The last date-modified dates of the files on the CD are from December 1996, indicating that this was prepared for Macworld Expo in San Francisco in January 1997. This was the expo where (in the words of the San Jose Mercury News' David Plotnikoff) "Mac-loyal shock troops with camouflage pants and black shirts were all over the floor. By the escalators leading up to the Macworld exhibits hung a huge banner proclaiming: 'Steve Says Defend Your OS Choice or Lose It.' On the streets of San Francisco, and even some of the sidewalks, Humvees of the renegade general Steve stopped traffic as people gawked to find out what military operation could possibly be on. And at General Steve's headquarters itself, a bunker-style, heavy-artillery firebase reminiscent of Apocalypse Now, lay the wreckage of an airplane called 'The Redmond Express.' "

Old-timers (like me) will note the rabbit-ear antenna on the television set, the separate VHF and UHF channel dials (this critter ain't cable-ready, shall we say?) and the use of the VHF dial image for the CD at far right.

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