Before 1984 the only time I enjoyed seeing a hammer thrown was by The Mighty Thor in Marvel comics. But early that year I had a new love, the sexy, heroine in Apple’s ‘1984’ commercial for its brand spanking new Macintosh. The commercial’s only paid national broadcast of note was January 22 during the Superbowl, but it was replayed during several national news shows and won awards for its creativity. Advertising Age named it the 1980s commercial of the decade.

Interesting guerilla marketing note courtesty of Wikipedia): The ad agency Chiat/Day ran the commercial (directed by Ridley Scott) one other time, December 15, 1983 on KMVT in Twin Falls, Idaho, so that it could be submitted to award ceremonies for that year.

Unnamed at the time, Anya Major was the actress who rebelliously throws the hammer at the screen of a “Big Brother” authority figure as the narrator intones: “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984.”

Few people thought the Mac would last this long. In fact, after Steve Jobs left Apple to start NeXT in the late 1980s, I remember a press event where he discussed how all platforms experience a kind of glide slope; they peak in popularity and stay there a few years longer based essentially on momentum, until the next great technology comes along. The Mac had reached its peak, in Jobs view, and the NeXT era was fast approaching.

Which only goes to prove Jobs isn’t the genius everyone makes him out to be, right?

Well, not exactly. Jobs rejoined a floundering Apple in 1996 after showing its board of directors how the company could advance the Mac by infusing it with NeXT’s software. Apple promptly did just that after buying NeXT and bringing Steve Jobs back to the company he co-founded.

So it’s been quite a 25 years for Macintosh. Take a bow Hammer Girl, the Mac is still swinging.

Sue Decker? Carol Bartz? Those are two of the more prominent names rumored to be finalists for the top spot at Yahoo.

To recap, the struggling Internet giant announced last November it was looking for a new CEO. Co-founder Jerry Yang is helping with the search and maintains the CEO position until his replacement is found. Yahoo’s stock has been tanking every since Yang & company turned down Microsoft’s $31 billion$47.5 billion offer to buy the company. (Obviously, the downturn in the economy hasn’t helped either).

If the rumors of Bartz and Decker are true it doesn’t look like Yahoo wants to rock its increasingly leaky boat too much with its executive search strategy. As President of Yahoo, I have to believe Decker bears some responsibility for the current state of affairs at the company (the Microsoft fiasco, dropping search engine share, loss of key employees, etc.) either by her actions or inaction.

I suppose it’s possible that once given CEO authority, Decker will emerge as an executive dynamo, either sealing a sweet deal for its search engine with Microsoft or making the Yahoo-as-Internet-start page strategy pay off big time.

Or not.

To me a Decker appointment can’t help but signal Yang and Yahoo’s board want the status quo to continue and that can’t be music to shareholder’s ears. Ditto for Carol Bartz. Bartz has a wealth of tech experience, including 14 years at computer-aided-design firm Autodesk. She was Autodesk CEO until 2006, and continues to serve as its executive chairman. Like Decker, Bartz is considered a good business manager, plenty smart and well-connected, serving on several big company boards.

Internet experience? Not so much. I guess that’s where Jerry and friends can help.

C’mon Yahoo, you can be bolder. Last I checked Carly Fiornia is looking for a new gig.

Other nominations? I did a search for “Tech CEO” at Yahoo’s search engine, and this guy, near the top of the results, has made himself available. That’s the spirit!

I’d love to hear your suggestions in the feedback in comments. Please include a line or two defending your suggestion.