What the lumon terminal Pro says about accessible Computers, past and Present
In a break from the norm, Apple’s latest Mac doesn’t look to be very accessible.
Earlier this week, the company launched the Lumon Terminal Pro. The Terminal Pro is obviously a fictitious product and thus not actually for sale; it’s the machine Mark S, Helly R, Dylan G.—and presumably Tim C.—use to do their “mysterious and important” work as part of the Macrodata Refinement, or MDR, group on the cultural phenomenon show Severance on Apple TV+. On the Terminal Pro’s page, Apple links to a spoiler-filled video detailing how Severance is edited on the iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. It’s a good 12-minute watch, if not somewhat meta insofar as while watching it last night, I chuckled at the thought someone at Apple had to edit the video about editing video.
The other thought I had while watching the making-of video was how juxtaposed the Terminal Pro is to these aforementioned decidedly more modern Macs. To wit, seeing the Terminal Pro on the show evokes strong memories within me of my years in elementary school using the Apple IIe during computer lab. I played a helluva lot of Oregon Trail and Odell Lake on those things—even when I was supposed to be doing something else decidedly more pedagogical in nature. As a kid with low vision, I found the Apple IIe’s screen hard to see, despite the contrast being high with its green text against a black background. The full complexity of accessibility as a concept was intellectually lost on me at that age, although I suppose I had an innate sense of it given how I struggled to see the screen (and the glyphs on the keyboard). Were the Terminal Pro a real shipping product, my spidey sense strongly suggests how accessible it likely would be on par with my Apple IIe experiences of yesteryear—which is to say, not very.
By the same token, however, it’s remarkable how the technological advances of the last few decades have enabled me to not only enjoy computers in a nerdy sense, but to thrive with them in a productivity sense. Come May, I will have been an independent tech journalist for a dozen years, all of which have been spent from home and on the various Apple computers which have festooned the newsroom known as my desk in the little corner of my dining room. (Yes, I’m very privileged to have a house with a bespoke dining room.) None of my reporting would have been possible without, amongst other technical marvels, an accessible computer. My current machine is likely careening towards the end of its life come June, but it has treated me so well since July 2019. I’d love to know how many millions of words I’ve banged out on this thing over the years. It’s a testament to not merely how accessible the Mac is to me personally, but to Apple’s commitment to software support beyond older machines’ ostensible modernity. Sure, Apple Silicon is the shit, but my iMac is still steamrolling along on Intel and suits my workflow just fine. The 4K panel, in particular, remains glorious to look at every single day. What I’m saying is, the value proposition has been astronomical.
Beyond computers, it’s ironic in a way that, for all the praise I heap unto Apple for prioritizing disability inclusion in the company’s entertainment arm, Severance is absolutely one of my all-time favorite television shows. It has absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with disability, but I love it so much. I was admittedly late to jumping on the proverbial bandwagon, but I’m firmly riding it now. Although I subscribe to umpteenth streaming services, Apple TV+ is unquestionably my favorite not only because of Severance and For All Mankind and The Morning Show and Dickinson and Ted Lasso, but because it’s also home to what I believe is the most compelling catalog of earnest, genuine disability representation found in Hollywood today. As a lifelong marginalized and underrepresented person, I feel as though I can truly have my cake and eat it too.
Terminal Pro’s appearance on Apple’s Mac website is the latest marketing ploy for Severance. Back in mid-January, cast members appeared at a promotional event held at Apple’s Grand Central Station retail outpost ahead of the show’s Season 2 premiere. Parker Ortolani wrote about the event for his blog, replete with splendid photography.
I can’t wait for Season 3 of Severance, praise Kier. The first two are on Apple TV+ now.
