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Bill Atkinson deserves it. He almost singlehandedly wrote the original Macintosh graphics API, QuickDraw, and also created MacPaint, which defined the UI/UX of
by doomlaser 6y ago
Bill Atkinson deserves it. He almost singlehandedly wrote the original Macintosh graphics API, QuickDraw, and also created MacPaint, which defined the UI/UX of the graphical pixel editor. Photoshop is its clear descendant.
The Mac graphics API was interesting, because it was all done in software, as opposed to platforms like the Amiga which relied on graphics hardware. Personally, I think relying on graphics hardware acceleration would have been smarter, as every platform this does now, but it was certainly a bold choice for the Mac.
Atkinson also created HyperCard, which could have been the first web browser had Apple managed it better — Tim Berners Lee references it in his original web proposal document.
It would be interesting to know how many stock options an Apple Fellow receives, and whether it is a one-time award, or continuing.
- Aloha 6y agoDoing it in software allowed the original MacOS to be much more extensible and live on far longer than would have otherwise been expected.
- doomlaser 6y agoTo that point, QuickDraw is still shipping in MacOS although it's officially deprecated. Pretty impressive for an API that began life in 1979. I will dock it for never supporting more than a 1-bit transparency mask, but Atkinson had left Apple before that became important. I think he quit around the time Jobs was first fired. He made HyperCard on his own and licensed it to Apple for cash, though he stipulated that they had to release it for free. Unfortunately, HyperCard's biggest legacy is only Myst, and the Tim Berners Lee shout-out.
- CydeWeys 6y agoHyperCard has a much bigger legacy than Myst: it inspired how Web browsers work, including the overall navigation look and feel, JavaScript, even the hand pointer! It's one of those super influential things that most people don't know about.
- Aloha 6y agoI think it was removed in 10.15, as its tied to Carbon.
- Yhippa 6y agoHyperCard was one of the best tools I've ever used. A real shame it never caught on.
- ebg13 6y agoIt was huge at the time. It only died because Apple killed it.
- CydeWeys 6y agoI wouldn't say that it never caught on, but rather, that its successor (the Web), which it inspired directly, succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams.
- Angostura 6y agoNot really. Hypercard included a fully functional programming language (HyperTalk) and a simple database. It really isn't analogous to the Web.
- dijit 6y agoI don’t know anything about HyperTalk but given that we live in an age where the web basically doesn’t work without a fully functional programming language (JavaScript) and a simple database (websql) isn’t the parent correct?
- scroot 6y agoIt's not really fair to compare the two that closely. Doing so misses a key aspect of Hypercard, which is how it fit holistically into the operating systems of its time. Hypercard "authors" had the ability to do many of the things their operating system could do from within the HC/HT system. Hypertalk is also different in purpose and kind from JS. The former is easier to read than it is to write (Hypercard encouraged learning by copying / example), and was explicitly designed for everyday people. It was meant to bridge the gap between "users" and "programmers" and provide true computational media authoring.
- kalleboo 6y agoEven before the Mac, Apple had a history of doing it in software - Woz make the Apple II floppy drive use way fewer parts than their competitors by driving it in software.
- cma 6y agoMac Paint looks similar to the Xerox PARC painting app: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Smalltalk-76.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Smalltal...