TL;DR
Early Macintosh machines had a fast CPU but slow boot performance due largely to floppy-disk access and limited RAM. Steve Jobs pressed engineer Larry Kenyon to speed up startup, arguing that shaving seconds from boot time multiplied across millions of users would save 'dozens of lives'; engineers reduced boot time by more than ten seconds over the following months.
What happened
The original Macintosh shipped with a 68000 processor that outpaced contemporaries in raw CPU speed, but designers found the system hamstrung by floppy-disk throughput and tight memory limits. Booting could require minutes as the machine ran memory tests, initialized system code and loaded the Finder from disk. Steve Jobs singled out startup delay as a priority and personally confronted Larry Kenyon, the engineer responsible for the disk driver and file system. Jobs framed the problem with a thought experiment: if five million users boot daily, cutting ten seconds per boot would add up to a very large aggregate time savings — ‘‘dozens of lives,’’ in his words. The anecdote is presented as both a humorous motivational gambit and a catalyst; over the next few months the team shaved more than ten seconds from boot time. The account appears in Andy Hertzfeld’s recollection and was later cited in other retellings.
Why it matters
- Boot speed shapes the user's first impression of a computer and can affect perceived system responsiveness.
- Small per-user improvements compound across large installed bases; marginal gains can yield substantial aggregate time savings.
- Hardware bottlenecks (here, floppy-disk access and limited RAM) can negate advantages from faster processors and demand software-level optimization.
- Leadership emphasis and direct pressure can alter engineering priorities and produce measurable performance wins.
Key facts
- The Macintosh used a 68000 microprocessor that was substantially faster than the Apple II in raw processing terms.
- Floppy-disk performance and constrained RAM were major bottlenecks for the original Mac.
- Boot sequences included memory tests, system initialization, and loading the Finder, processes that could take a couple of minutes or more.
- Steve Jobs confronted Larry Kenyon, the engineer working on the disk driver and file system, about improving boot time.
- Jobs estimated a future user base of roughly five million people and argued that saving ten seconds per boot would have large aggregate effects.
- Engineers managed to reduce boot time by more than ten seconds within a few months after the conversation.
- Andy Hertzfeld recounted the episode on July 21, 2003; the anecdote was also used in the documentary Triumph of the Nerds.
- Commenters and later reflections note that early Macs with much in ROM booted quickly, while later OS revisions (such as OS 9) could be much slower.
What to watch next
- Whether modern macOS releases continue to prioritize and measurably reduce cold-boot times: not confirmed in the source.
- How hardware changes (solid-state storage, more RAM) versus software optimization further shift boot-performance tradeoffs: not confirmed in the source.
Quick glossary
- Boot time: The elapsed time from powering on a computer to when the operating system and user interface are ready for interaction.
- Floppy disk: A removable magnetic storage medium widely used in early personal computers for loading software and saving small amounts of data.
- ROM (Read-Only Memory): Non-volatile memory that stores firmware or system code that does not need to be loaded from disk at startup.
- Finder: The graphical file manager and desktop shell used in classic Macintosh systems to present files and launch applications.
- File system: The software structure used by an operating system to organize, store and retrieve files on storage media.
Reader FAQ
Why did early Macs boot slowly?
Limited RAM and slow floppy-disk access meant the system had to load code from disk frequently, which lengthened the boot sequence.
Who was Larry Kenyon?
He was the engineer responsible for the Macintosh disk driver and file system, according to the account.
Did Steve Jobs' admonition directly cause the boot-time improvements?
The team did reduce boot time by more than ten seconds in the months after the conversation, but the account says it is unclear how much the pitch itself drove that work.
How large did Jobs expect the Macintosh user base to become?
He suggested it could reach about five million users who might boot daily.
Where does this story come from?
The anecdote is from Andy Hertzfeld’s recollection and was cited in other retellings, including usage in Triumph of the Nerds.
We always thought of the Macintosh as a fast computer, since its 68000 microprocessor was effectively 10 times faster than an Apple II, but our Achilles heel was the floppy…
Sources
- Steve wants us to make the Macintosh boot faster
- How Steve Jobs Turned Boot Time into a Lifesaving Mission
- On Influence
- One day Jobs came into the cubicle of Larry Ken…
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