Microsoft's 1997 Apple investment combined non-voting capital with Office commitments, patent peace, and browser distribution at a critical moment for the Mac.
The 1984 Macintosh did not invent the graphical user interface, but it packaged mouse-driven windows, icons, menus, and direct manipulation into a mass-market personal computer with unusually consistent application behavior.
Susan Kare transformed tiny monochrome pixels into icons and typefaces that made the original Macintosh feel expressive, legible and approachable, helping define the visual vocabulary of graphical personal computing.
The original Macintosh made windows, icons, menus, the Finder, QuickDraw and direct-manipulation interaction part of a coherent mass-market operating environment.