Here we are, almost 20 years to the day since Apple announced Macintosh with a spectacular Super Bowl ad. And the world has changed, big time. IBM's no longer Big Brother, it's big brother to a cute, towheaded kid named Linux.

I just sat down and watched the 1997-vintage Quicktime of the Mac Big Brother ad. They seem to me to be like bookends for one another. They serve the same purpose: to announce a commitment to a new platform. They also do another thing quite well...tug at your heartstrings.

Links:
IBM spots, including "Prodigy" which introduces Big Blue's little brother Linux.
The Macintosh "1984" ad, re-encoded for some new version of Quicktime I don't have...[grumble]