Apple flies original Mac team's pirate flag for company's 40th anniversary

Marking the 40th anniversary of the company's founding, Apple on Friday flew a pirate flag over its Cupertino headquarters, in a tribute to the first-generation Macintosh team headed by company co-founder Steve Jobs.

The flag resembles a stereotypical pirate flag, with the notable difference of a rainbow Apple "eyepatch." It was originally hoisted by the Mac team in 1983, sewn together by programmer Steve Capps with an emblem painted by graphic designer Susan Kare.

The gesture was a reference to a quote by Jobs, "It's better to be a pirate than join the navy," and also marked the Mac team's arrival in a new office building.

Awesome to see this flying over Apple for our 40th tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/MHazmzIusY
— Michael Jurewitz (@Jury) April 1, 2016

Apple first began celebrating its 40th at its March 21 press event, where it showed a tribute video, "40 Years in 40 Seconds." CEO Tim Cook also noted that it would probably be the last event held at its current headquarters Town Hall, since the company is hoping to move into its giant "Campus 2" space in early 2017. That facility includes a much larger 1,000-seat theater.

Apple periodically changes the flags flying over its headquarters, sometimes for variety, more rarely to send a message. It has, for instance, raised a Pride flag to show its backing for LGBT causes — Cook himself has participated in the San Francisco Pride Parade.

36 Comments

techprod1gy 838 comments · 11 Years

About 8 years ago

Sweet

phone-ui-guy 1018 comments · 18 Years

sog35 said:

How insensitive of Apple.

Hundreds of innocent lives are lost each year at sea from Pirates around the world.

It is about non-conformity and not actual Piracy, but you knew that. Take you faux PC rage elsewhere.

tallest skil 43086 comments · 14 Years

sog35 said:
Pirates are basically the terrorist of the sea.

What about the hundreds of millions of innocent dollars lost to the computer pirates for which Apple is solely responsible?

If we’re suing gun manufacturers for their products’ use in crime, why not sue Apple for creating the personal computer and letting all cybercrime happen?

maccad 87 comments · 15 Years

Hey sog35, I thought you were kidding with your first post, but apparently you're serious. I assume you've already taken Disney and Johnny Depp to task for "Pirates of the Carribean." Our fascination with pirates is a cultural thing that's understood by nearly everyone except you. Lighten up!

macky the macky 4801 comments · 15 Years

sog35 said:

phone-ui-guy said:

It is about non-conformity and not actual Piracy, but you knew that. Take you faux PC rage elsewhere.

Would you be okay if the worlds most powerful company proudly waved a flag with criminal logos on it?
Pirates are basically the terrorist of the sea.

All of the flags flown by the revolutionists during the struggle for American independence were deemed criminal by the British at the time... I'm proud how that turned out.

I'm also amused at seeing Apple fly a symbol of their independence from status quo on this eve of "sticking it to the man" in their standing up against the FBI for human rights regarding privacy.