Bill Atkinson
William "Bill" D. Atkinson (born March 17, 1951) is an American computer engineer and photographer. Atkinson worked at Apple Computer from 1978 to 1990.
Bill Atkinson | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 17, 1951 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of California, San Diego University of Washington |
| Occupation(s) | Engineer, inventor, nature photographer |
| Known for | Part of the Apple Lisa and Macintosh 128K development teams; conceived, designed, implemented HyperCard, the first popular hypermedia system; his 2004 book, Within the Stone |
| Website | billatkinson |
Atkinson was the principal designer and developer of the graphical user interface (GUI) of the Apple Lisa and, later, one of the first thirty members of the original Apple Macintosh development team, and was the creator of the MacPaint application. He also designed and implemented QuickDraw, the fundamental toolbox that the Lisa and Macintosh used for graphics. QuickDraw's performance was essential for the success of the Macintosh GUI. He also was one of the main designers of the Lisa and Macintosh user interfaces. Atkinson also conceived, designed and implemented HyperCard, an early and influential hypermedia system. HyperCard put the power of computer programming and database design into the hands of nonprogrammers. In 1994, Atkinson received the EFF Pioneer Award for his contributions.