Jef raskin on the book of macintosh stanford university. Jef raskin, 61, developer of apple macintosh, is dead. Couple of interesting, but oddly coincidental, interviews with jef father of the mac raskin. He wanted to name the computer after his favorite type of apple, the mcintosh, but the spelling was changed to macintosh for legal reasons as the original was the same spelling as that used by mcintosh laboratory, inc. Steve wozniak is indisputably the father of the apple ii, having designed the entire digital board himself as well as writing all of the system software, including a basic interpreter, most of it before apple was even incorporated. Yes, in fact there was one of those that i wrote that listed what it would be used for, and it almost reads deadon what we use the internet for. But the basic idea of a graphicsbased, user interfaceoriented machine for lisa came from the macintosh project. How jef raskin started the macintosh project mac history.
Raskin s greatest legacies was the macintosh project, which was taken over by mr. Because, if youre working on a project and youd like to manage it well, you have to have things documented. Youve got keep a paper trail, youve got to say what ideas did we start with, what have we discarded, or oh, heres this problem. Raskin s response to comments by steve jobs about the features and cost of the macintosh. Everyone associates the mac with steve jobs, but user interface guru jef raskin was crucial to the creation of apples iconic computers. This included selecting the name of his favorite apple, writing the mission document the book of macintosh, securing office space. Jef raskin, 61, developer of apple macintosh, is dead the new. Some books are better than others in this regard the. The untold story of how my dad helped invent the first mac. Young makes the truly absurd claim that i saw no need for graphics, in the macintosh product and so forth. Jef raskin, my father, below helped develop the macintosh, and i was recently looking at some of his old documents and came across his. Appreciation jef raskin, brains behind the userfriendly macintosh early apple developer wanted computers built for people, not just for programs jef. Jef raskin, the lead designer of the first macintosh computer and a pioneer in the development of user interfaces, died saturday at age 61. March 9, 1943 february 26, 2005 was an american humancomputer interface expert best known for conceiving and starting the macintosh project at apple in the late 1970s.
Raskin was a philosophical guy who could be both playful and ponderous, writes walter isaacson in his book steve jobs. While i am a healthcare preofessional and not a computer geek, the principles of design that raskin discusses could well be applied to the design of the systems that i use to document patient care and to manage clinical data. Bud tribble, steve jobs, joanna hoffman, jef raskin, rod holt. Sponsored by advertiser name here sponsored item title goes here as designed. From the collection, a scannedin computerrelated document. He had been diagnosed recently with pancreatic cancer. The macintosh project began in 1979 when jef raskin, an apple employee, envisioned an easytouse, lowcost computer for the average consumer. Jef raskin, reply to jobs, and personal motivation. In the early days of the personal computer industry, breakthrough products could still be created singlehandedly, or by very small teams. A family statement said he had recently been diagnosed with. He was an accomplished musician, composer, conductor and painter, as well as a mathematician, book author. This unique guide to interactive system design reflects the experience and vision of jef raskin, the creator of the apple macintosh. Raskin is often referred to as the father of the macintosh.
Raskins greatest legacies was the macintosh project, which was taken over by mr. A bristling raskin responded with a sarcastic memo to jobs, replicated in the excellent book apple confidential 2. The only book ive ever seen that mentions that is owen linzmeyers apple confidential. The death of jef raskin marks the passing of an technology industry legend who led the design of the first macintosh computer for apple computer and who also clashed with rival steve jobs. With this book, raskin proves again both his farsightedness and his practicality. Among other things, the next generation of our zoomable file browser now lets you sort documents by visual criteria, like principle color or image dimensions. On thing that is very striking about reading the book of macintosh now is that there were several documents describing your idea for an apple computer network, or other sorts of networks. Jef raskin was an american humancomputer interface expert best known for. This raises a question about the origins of the book of macintosh. Document was prepared for the meeting on 12 october 1979. Jef raskin s book, the humane interface, is the single best human interface design book that i have read. The apple macintosh helped to introduce a previous revolution in computer. Remembering jef raskin, the macs other inventor cult of mac.
74 1613 212 25 579 1220 1134 1566 832 1330 1157 959 132 762 1336 1083 534 934 40 1118 1282 503 1367 505 939 164 609 799 1631 1429 163 1304 684 867 1142 572 1339 286 1397 109 1432