Bill Atkinson
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Bill Atkinson (* 1951) is an American computer engineer and photographer. Atkinson worked at Apple Computer from 1978 to 1990. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego, where Apple Macintosh developer Jef Raskin was one of his professors. Atkinson continued his studies as a graduate student at the University of Washington.
He designed and implemented HyperCard, the first popular hypermedia system. Atkinson was also part of the Apple Macintosh development team and was the creator of the ground-breaking MacPaint application, among others. Atkinson also designed and implemented QuickDraw, the fundamental toolbox that the Macintosh used for graphics. QuickDraw's performance was essential for the success of the Macintosh's graphical user interface.
Around 1990, General Magic's founding, with Bill Atkinson as one of the three co-founders, met the following press:
The obstacles to General Magic's success may appear daunting, but General Magic is not your typical start-up company. Its partners include some of the biggest players in the worlds of computing, communications, and consumer electronics, and it's loaded with top-notch engineers who have been given a clean slate to reinvent traditional approaches to ubiquitous worldwide communications. (-Byte Magazine)
As of 1996, he was involved full-time in fine-art digital nature photography. Some of his photographs are available as e-cards in the "iCards" section of the .Mac.
Some of Atkinson's noteworthy contributions to the field of computing include:
- Macintosh QuickDraw and Lisa LisaGraf
- Marching ants
- Menu bar
- The Selection lasso
- FatBits
- MacPaint
- HyperCard
[edit] External links
| Original Macintosh Developer Team |
|---|
| Jef Raskin · Bill Atkinson · Burrell Smith · Chris Espinosa · Joanna Hoffman · George Crow · Jerry Manock · Susan Kare · Andy Hertzfeld |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Atkinson, Bill |
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| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Nature Photographer, Former Software Designer and member of the original Macintosh Team |
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| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
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