1984 will not be like 1984, Apple had said in its ad

An ad commercial titled '1984' had preceded the launch of Apple's iconic Macintosh computer on January 24, 1984. This commercial, the merit of which was initially doubted, later went on to become a rage.

The premise of the advertisement was the 'Big Brother' - dictator of a totalitarian state from George Orwell's popular novel titled Nineteen Eighty Four. The ad tried to position Apple's introduction of the Mac as an empowerment tool against control.

There are several interpretations of the theme of the advertisement. According to one, the Big Brother in the ad was supposed to be Apple's then rival, IBM, which was making huge strides in the technology world through its Personal Computer (PC). Others interpreted the ad as positioning the Apple Mac as a tool for vesting people at the grassroots level with technology. It also tried to break the myth about technology's eventual aim - enslavement of mankind.

Ironically, though Macintosh and scores of products that Apple launched subsequently changed the face of the technology industry, the fear of state surveillance thirty years on have only gone up, especially after revelations of large-scale snooping allegations against the US government.

"On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984," the Apple ad's closing lines had said. Thirty years later, perhaps, not quite!