Latest news with #BillAtkinson
TechCrunch
2 hours ago
- TechCrunch
Pioneering Apple engineer Bill Atkinson dies at 74
In Brief Bill Atkinson, an engineer who played a key role in the development of the Macintosh and other landmark Apple products, has died of pancreatic cancer. After Atkinson's family announced his passing on Facebook, Wired's Steven Levy provided an overview of Atkinson's many accomplishments as Apple employee number 51 . In addition to the Macintosh, the Apple projects he either created or contributed to include the Lisa computer, QuickDraw, the Magic Slate (a precursor of the iPad), and HyperCard (a precursor to the World Wide Web). Atkinson, who was 74, eventually became passionate about nature photography and, when he was diagnosed with cancer last year, wrote on Facebook that he had 'already led an amazing and wonderful life.' In a post on X, Apple CEO Tim Cook described Atkinson as 'a true visionary whose creativity, heart, and groundbreaking work on the Mac will forever inspire us.' And Daring Fireball's John Gruber wrote that 'with no hyperbole,' Atkinson 'may well have been the best computer programmer who ever lived.'
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Who was Bill Atkinson? The Man who helped Steve Jobs build the Macintosh computers, dies at 74
Bill Atkinson dies at 74: Bill Atkinson has made a lasting impression on the computer industry as one of the creative forces behind Apple's early inventions. His groundbreaking work with Steve Jobs, which helped shape the Macintosh and Lisa computers, transformed how people use computers. Not only was Atkinson a software developer, but he was also a visionary who shaped Apple's history in its early years. From creating QuickDraw to conceiving HyperCard, his work impacted the World Wide Web and established the foundation for contemporary user interfaces. Tributes underline his enduring influence as the tech community laments his departure. Learn how Atkinson's contributions are still influencing the modern digital world. Who was Bill Atkinson? Atkinson was born on March 15, 1951, in Los Gatos, California. He was a pioneering computer scientist, software designer, and one of the key early employees at Apple Inc. He played a crucial role in shaping modern computing through his work on the Lisa and Macintosh projects alongside Steve Jobs. Atkinson was instrumental in developing Apple's graphical user interface (GUI) and was the creator of MacPaint, one of the first graphics applications for personal computers. He also developed the QuickDraw graphics system and contributed to HyperCard, an early software tool that influenced the development of the World Wide Web. Known for his innovation, creativity, and deep influence on user-friendly computing, Bill Atkinson left a lasting legacy in both Apple's history and the broader tech industry. Bill Atkinson's Apple journey Long before sleek interfaces were commonplace, he was Apple employee number 51, directly selected by Steve Jobs. He had a significant influence on the appearance and feel of the company's early computers. Atkinson contributed to the creation of the Lisa's and the first Macintosh's graphical user interfaces. He developed MacPaint, QuickDraw, the graphics engine that drove the Mac's visuals, and HyperCard, a program that allowed users to create interactive applications long before the term "apps" was coined. He was the creative force behind many of the elements we now consider standard, such as the menu bar, the lasso tool for selections, and the tiny "marching ants" animation. He even came up with the idea for the rounded, smooth rectangles known as RoundRects that are still used on many Apple products today. Following his departure from Apple in 1990, Atkinson focused his passion on nature photography, bringing the same level of detail and beauty to screens. Bill Atkinson family His legacy endures every time someone turns on a Mac. He leaves behind his wife, two daughters, a stepson, a stepdaughter, four sisters, two brothers, and more. Bill Atkinson's education qualification Jef Raskin, the pioneer of the Apple Macintosh, was one of his professors at the University of California, San Diego, where he earned his undergraduate degree. Atkinson went on to study neurochemistry at the University of Washington as a graduate student. Apple CEO Tim Cook's Tribute to Bill Atkinson Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed profound sadness at the news of Bill Atkinson's passing. He honoured Atkinson as a visionary whose creativity, generosity, and passion profoundly shaped Apple's legacy and touched countless lives. We are deeply saddened by the passing of Bill Atkinson. He was a true visionary whose creativity, heart, and groundbreaking work on the Mac will forever inspire us. Our thoughts are with his loved ones. To stay updated on the stories that are going viral follow Indiatimes Trending.
AU Financial Review
18 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
Bill Atkinson, who made computers easier to use, dies at 74
Bill Atkinson, an Apple Computer designer who created the software that enabled the transformative visual approach pioneered by the company's Lisa and Macintosh computers, making the machines accessible to millions of users without specialised skills, died on Thursday night at his home in Portola Valley, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was 74. In a Facebook post, his family said the cause was pancreatic cancer.
WIRED
19 hours ago
- WIRED
Bill Atkinson, Macintosh Pioneer and Inventor of Hypercard, Dies at 74
Jun 7, 2025 6:52 PM Atkinson's gleeful brilliance helped people draw on computer screens and access information via links. Photo:My first meeting with Bill Atkinson was unforgettable. It was November 1983, and reporting for Rolling Stone, I had gained access to the team building the Macintosh computer, scheduled to launch early the next year. Everyone kept telling me, 'Wait till you meet Bill and Andy,' referring to Atkinson and Andy Hertzfeld, two key writers of the Mac's software. Here's what I wrote about the encounter in my book, Insanely Great: I met Bill Atkinson first. A tall fellow with unruly hair, a Pancho Villa moustache, and blazing blue eyes, he had the unnerving intensity of Bruce Dern in one of his turns as an unhinged Vietnam vet. Like everyone else in the room, he wore jeans and a T-shirt. 'Do you want to see a bug?' he asked me. He pulled me into his cubicle and pointed to his Macintosh. Filling the screen was an incredibly detailed drawing of an insect. It was beautiful, something you might see on an expensive workstation in a research lab, but not on a personal computer. Atkinson laughed at his joke, then got very serious, talking in an intense near-whisper that gave his words a reverential weight. 'The barrier between words and pictures is broken,' he said. 'Until now the world of art has been a sacred club. Like fine china. Now it's for daily use.' Atkinson was right. His contributions to the Macintosh were critical to that breakthrough he'd whispered to me at the Apple office known as Bandley 3 that day. A few years later, he would singlehandedly make another giant contribution with a program called Hypercard, which presaged the World Wide Web. Through it all, he retained his energy and joie de vivre, and became an inspiration for all who would change the world through code. On June 5, 2025, he died after a long illness. He was 74. Atkinson hadn't planned on becoming a pioneer in personal computing. As a graduate student, he studied computer science and neurobiology at the University of Washington. But when he encountered an Apple II in 1977, he fell in love, and went to work for the company that built it a year later. He was employee number 51. In 1979, he was among the small group that Steve Jobs led to the Xerox PARC research lab and was blown away by the graphic computer interface he saw there. It became his job to translate that futuristic technology to the consumer, working on Apple's Lisa project. In the process, he invented many of the conventions that still persist on today's computers, like menu bars. Atkinson also created QuickDraw, a groundbreaking technology to efficiently draw objects on a screen. One of those objects was the 'Round-Rect'—a box with rounded corners that would become part of everyone's computing experience. Atkinson had resisted the idea until Jobs made him walk around the block and see all the traffic signs and other objects with rounded corners. When Jobs took over the other Apple project inspired by PARC technology, the Macintosh, he poached Atkinson, whose work had already influenced that product. Hertzfeld, who was in charge of the Mac interface, once explained to me the Lisa features he'd appropriated for the Mac: 'Anything Bill Atkinson did, I took, and nothing else.' he said. Atkinson, who had become disenchanted at the Lisa's high price tag, embraced the idea of a more affordable version, and began writing MacPaint, the program that would empower users to create art on the Mac's bit-mapped screen. After the Mac launched, the team began to unravel. Atkinson had the title of Apple Fellow, which gave him the freedom to pursue passion projects. He began work on something he called Magic Slate—a device with a high-resolution screen that weighed under a pound and could be controlled by a stylus and swipes on a touch screen. Basically, he was designing the iPad 25 years early. But the technology wasn't ready to create something so miniaturized and powerful at an affordable price (Atkinson hoped it would be so inexpensive you could afford to lose six in a year and not be bothered.) 'I wanted Magic Slate so bad I could taste it,' he once told me. After the failure of Magic Slate, Atkinson fell into a months-long depression, too disheartened to turn on his computer. One night, he took LSD and wandered out of his home in the Los Gatos hills. Staring into the vast collections of pixels that made up the night sky, he became reenergized, and decided to adopt some of the Magic Slate ideas into software that could run on the Mac. He designed a program where information—text, video, audio—would be stored on virtual cards. These would link to each other. It was a vision that harkened back to a 1940s idea by scientist Vannevar Bush which had been sharpened by a technologist named Ted Nelson, who called the linking technique 'hypertext.' But it was Atkinson who made the software work for a popular computer. When he showed the program, called HyperCard, to Apple CEO John Sculley, the executive was blown away, and asked Atkinson what he wanted for it. 'I want it to ship,' Atkinson said. Sculley agreed to put it on every computer. HyperCard would become a forerunner of the World Wide Web, proof of the viability of the hyperlinking concept. Atkinson left Apple in 1990. Soon after, he joined several of his Mac team colleagues, along with future technology stars like Tony Fadell (who would later help invent the iPod) and Megan Smith (who became CTO of the United States under Obama) to form General Magic, a brilliant effort to build a handheld device that basically did everything the iPhone would do 15 years later. Unfortunately, the company built its device just before the internet took off. Once more, it was too early. In his later years, Atkinson became passionate about nature photography and produced several stunning collections of prints. I treasure a volume of photos he captured of stones that were cut open and polished to a gleam. The pictures looked like swirling, organic fractal abstractions, taunting us to solve their mysteries. I last saw him at the 40-year Mac team reunion in January 2024. He was as ebullient as he'd been on the day I met him and he participated in a joyful panel with fellow Mac team members at the Computer History Museum, in his trademark Hawaiian shirt. Atkinson attended Burning Man last September. On October 1, 2024 as he explained in a Facebook post, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and asked friends and well-wishers to pray for him. 'I have already led an amazing and wonderful life,' he wrote. Earlier this year, he shared a new version of his website that offered free downloads of his photography. He traveled as late as this year, including a two-week sailing trip to Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands. He died in bed, surrounded by family. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, two stepchildren, and a dog named Poppy. Every link in this obituary owes a debt to Bill.
New York Times
20 hours ago
- New York Times
Bill Atkinson, Who Made Computers Easier to Use, Is Dead at 74
Bill Atkinson, the Apple Computer designer who created the software that enabled the transformative visual approach pioneered by the company's Lisa and Macintosh computers, making the machines accessible to millions of users without specialized skills, died on Thursday night at his home in Portola Valley, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was 74. In a Facebook post, his family said the cause was pancreatic cancer. It was Mr. Atkinson who programmed QuickDraw, a foundational software layer used for both the Lisa and Macintosh computers; composed of a library of small programs, it made it possible to display shapes, text and images on the screen efficiently. The QuickDraw programs were embedded in the computers' hardware, providing a distinctive graphical user interface that presented a simulated 'desktop,' displaying icons of folders, files and application programs. Mr. Atkinson is credited with inventing many of the key aspects of graphical computing, such as 'pull down' menus and the 'double-click' gesture, which allows users to open files, folders and applications by clicking a mouse button twice in succession. Before the Macintosh was introduced in January 1984, most personal computers were text-oriented; graphics were not yet an integrated function of the machines. And computer mice pointing devices were not widely available; software programs were instead controlled by typing arcane commands. The QuickDraw library had originally been designed for Apple's Lisa computer, which was introduced in January 1983. Intended for business users, the Lisa predated many of the Macintosh's easy-to-use features, but priced at $10,000 (almost $33,000 in today's money), it was a commercial failure. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
