Slashdot Mirror
GUI Pioneer Jef Raskin Has Passed Away
Viridian writes "Jef Raskin, GUI pioneer, interface expert, Apple employee #31, and the man most credited with the creation of the Apple Macintosh, died of cancer on Saturday February 26, 2005. It was Raskin who named it after his favorite fruit, the McIntosh apple, although he said that he changed the spelling to "Macintosh" to avoid potential copyright conflicts with McIntosh, the audio equipment manufacturer."
Bill Gates pays his respects
If the dollar is an "I owe you nothing", then the Euro is a "Who owes you nothing." - Doug Casey
Steve is usually a touchy feely type guy, i'm surprised that there's not anything on the Apple site about it, however small.
cleverly disguised as a responsible adult ||
Well, oft criticized on here, I still hope his humane interface project keeps going...
"When no-one around you understands start your own revolution and cut out the middle man"
You would think that the Apple website would have something, they care about their employess alot. Or at least more then other corporate companies
Bugger.
There are few enough decent UI designers out there who understand what is actually important over what "looks real pretty". Here was a man who was more interested in it working for people, than it looking good on a poster.
The original Mac interface is a design classic, where design is about function, not about style.
So next time you design an interface or a web page remember the creator of the Mac. What you create will be WORSE than the Mac.. BECAUSE of all the colours and "clever" bits you used.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
All my sympathy to his family and friends.
Farewell sir, and thanks.
Ed Almos
Budapest, Hungary
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. - Tacitus, 56-120 A.D.
He was one of my VERY few programming heros.
Controversial in his views, at least he had some mindshare and was pushing the envelope in innovation with his interface experiments. Rather than incrementally changing what has become the de facto UI over tha past 20 years, he was willing to step out of the box, get some metrics and push a vision for "easy to use" software and interfaces.
Not just some crank with wild ideas, he was able to get some of his visions into practice and leverage that developmental capital into newer and more refined methods and idioms.
We've lost a visionary folks, and that's just a shame. His loss hurts us all.
They had a good enough reason for that... Why Apple Uses One Buttoned Mice
I know we have discussed his more recent work on ZUI and whatnot here before and some people are a big fan of it and others are not. But I wonder what will happen with the project, or if it will be continued by others he was working with. He seems to be the one who really spear-headed the effort. Does anyone know? It would be a shame if he couldn't finish his project as he conceived it and it got dropped because there was no one to take it over. Condolences to anyone who knew him well.
Jef,
Thank you for the computer that has changed the world, and to his family the deepest sympathy from a greatful community.
Sad news indeed. :(
Heres some more information I found about the naming of macintosh apples.
"The Macintosh project began at Apple as one code-named Annie, and spearheaded not by Steve Jobs (he actually lobbied against the Mac project at one point) but by Jeff Raskin, a former computer professor and Apple employee number 31. Raskin is generally credited with quickly changing the codename from Annie to Macintosh, an obvious tie to the Apple brand. Macintosh was spelled differently than the apple variety, however, in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid trademark disputes. Apple itself, lore has it, was named by Steve Jobs for either his love of the Beatles (and their Apple Records label), his interest in health foods, or because of his fond experiences working in the apple orchards of Oregon during a brief stint at college there. Or for none of those reasons. Except for the short-lived Pippin operating system, Apple the company thankfully avoided any other product references to varieties of apple, the fruit."
(taken from creativepro)
I have started reading his webpage and about The Humane Interface, and I have to say that this guy really knew what computers were for. For getting work done, to use as a tool for your tasks at hand. I think a lot more programmers could learn from him.
I can't spell ripburger
With the greatest respect to the guy :)
--Confirmation Dialog--
Jef Raskin, are you sure you want to logout?
[Yes] [No]
liqbase
Because part of the apple "mystique" is the Steve Jobs personality cult.
If he directly admits that some random employee developed the macintosh and did all the gui work he won't look like mr. visionary delivering you your ticket to hipness for the right price.
He truly was one of my heroes, though I only realised it the last few years. Respect to him, condolances to them he left behind.
*steps back and bows again*
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
I was looking forward to The Humane Environment (THE). It looked rather promising. I'm sure it will continue development, but without the man who actually had a good grasp on UI technology and THE behind it, the development is likely to go the wrong way. Imagine what would have happened if Stallman's Emacs was given over to Bill Gates to manage. We'd have wound up with a really hard to use word processor the also does calendaring, web browsing, e-mail composition, and a whole host of other things + Clippy. Oh wait... Beyond this, it must really suck for his family since he is of far more signifigance to them than he will ever be even to people who think he was a UI genius (myself inluded).
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
I found your insights to be spectacular. I used to work in a Software Etcetera and make fun of Macintosh computers all the time. Of course then I was a hardened Windows user pushing software. I'm glad I finally came around and bought a Macintosh. The interface simplicity, and how much of it Windows derived, really sold me and now I own three.
...and of course the stories about you at http://www.folklore.org are an inspirational read.
.deviatefromtheabsolute.
Everyone seems to be making a big deal about Apple not having something on their site.
As of 2:57 pm EST on 2/27/2005 there isn't even anything on http://raskincenter.org
Goodbye.
So long, and thanks for all the clicks, Jef. May you find the perfect interface you have dreamt of for so long in the hereafter.
For ever in debt.
I hope you'll be more satisfied up there than you were down here. So long and thanks.
Back when the Macintosh was invented, we didn't have the same fruit diversity available at the market that we now have today...
Could be worse though... imagine if his favourite fruit had been the Durian
Bizarre UI. Would have been interesting if it had been cultivated.
Apple gets a lot of flak about the one-button mouse, but I can't see any justification for it. The whole interface was designed from the start not to need a second button on the mouse It's paramount to the simplicity of the Mac interface, but even the person responsible for it admits to the usefulness of having a second mouse button (from the Wikipedia article):
He is credited with the decision to use a one-button mouse as part of the Apple interface, a departure from the Xerox PARC standard of a three-button mouse. He has since stated that were he to redesign the interface today, he would have used a two button mouse.
I don't think it was a mistake for them to go with a single button, but it's more of a fundamental difference in the design. I couldn't imagine using a Windows computer without the right button, as much as I can't see a need for one on a Mac.
Bears don't normally eat things that talk and move backwards.
Damn.
Smart guy, excellent GUI designer, and someone who will be truely missed in the Apple Community.
Hell, even my Mac mini looks sad.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
The man who gave us the modern GUI, and understood Human interface design and spawned a million imitators.
He will be missed and remembered.
He'll be missed.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
His work touched the lives of so many people in the world, in nothing but a positive way. I don't know about anybody else but it makes me sad to see the fathers of our industry pass away.
May his soul rest in peace.
I like things that are sweet and not things that are lame. --
Actually, Apple's website is http://www.applecorpsltd.com/. There's, err, nothing on the website, except for this great big apple.
If you get your McIntoshs at the market they probably are bland and tasteless. I can drive 20 minutes from here in pretty much any direction and pick my own, in season. Nothing like 'em fresh!
We usually wait for Macouns a week or two later, though.
All the "eastern" types are better than any of the "delicious" types, when fresh. If I want to buy eating apples in the winter, I go for a Braeburn, usually from New Zealand. Expensive, but they're huge. One is usually too much.
BSD won't die anytime soon. OS X has BSD under the hood.
I'm just curious and I can't find anything on his website.
he changed the spelling to "Macintosh" to avoid potential copyright conflicts
TRADEMARKS ARE NOT COPYRIGHTS!
Oh yes! The Stapler!
"BSD won't die anytime soon. OS X has BSD under the hood."
Here is a nice photo of BSD in its hood:
click on this
I met Jef and Aza in Sweden last year at the EuroPython conference where he was talking about Archy, an editor with a more humane interface that they were working on. It was a pleasure to speak with him about computers, music and other things. My condolences go out to his family.
Now just guess who was Raskin's previous employer.
Also, whilst Xerox got all the basics right, they didn't have anything like the desktop metaphor, or a menu bar.
From Linda Blum, his wife, comes this note: Dear Friends, Jef died this evening, surrounded by friends and family, with some favorite music playing. While I am overcome by a profound sense of sadness and am not looking forward the days, weeks and years ahead without him, I am also relieved that he did not suffer for a long time and that he is at peace and no longer in pain. There will be a memorial service, time and date to be determined. ----------- My first thoughts: We lost one of the great ones today, a good and generous man. Jef Raskin died of cancer this evening, after being sick for several months. A wonderful spirit and renaissance man, who inspired me and many others. He created the Macintosh project at Apple in 1979, naming it after his personal favorite fruit He left Apple to form Information Appliances, where he designed the Canon Cat with an innovative interface. He continued refining human interface design, publishing his ideas in The Humane Interface (Addison Wesley, 2000.) The Humane Interface ideas are being implemented in the Raskin Center project Archy, where is son, Aza, is a programmer. His artwork was displayed at New York's Museum of Modern Art. He conducted the San Francisco Chamber Opera Society and wrote the score for a movie, "Smog Patterns," shown on PBS. He has a patent for a "Construction Technique for an Airplane Wing," and was a noted model airplane designer, an accomplished archer, and an occasional race car driver. Website is http://jef.raskincenter.org/home/index.html .There is also a collection of photographs and history at http://www.digibarn.com/friends/jef-raskin/index.h tml Jennie Bourne and I are in the midst of making a movie about him http://www.jefthemovie.com .
I don't know who he is. I've heard the name. Perhaps I've even used some of his innovations.
But that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what he did as far as computers go because its always sad when someone dies especially from cancer (at a relatively younger age). Sorry for all those who fall victim to cancer and other terminal illness.
R.I.P. Jef Raskin
Sorry for him, his family and friends who had to endure this process. Cancer killed my 11-year old brother so I know what they are going through.
Slashdot previously covered his project, and there is some interesting discussion about some of his ideas in this article.
Look, once and for all, BSD is NOT dying. And yes, Netcraft does friggin' confirm it, so can we please let this troll die its long-overdue natural death?
although he said that he changed the spelling to "Macintosh" to avoid potential copyright conflicts with McIntosh, the audio equipment manufacturer
This would actually be a trademark problem.
I hope he knows we're eternally greatful for his contributions to the world of computing.
Help me, help you. - Jerry McGuire
You are wrong. Apple didn't steal anything. They licensed part of the GUI idea from Xerox and added many of their own ideas in the creation of the Mac OS.
See: http://www.mackido.com/Interface/ui_history.html
The only mention I can find on the entire Apple site (using their "advanced search") is something about "DB2 HyperCard Demo Disks" referring to the "Raskin-Bobbins Hypercard Stack". You'd think that someone of Raskin's stature and relevance to Apple's success would at least have an honorable mention somewhere.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Will he be buried next to BSD?
Well, is there a "Score -5: Funny" rating ?
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
I disagreed with many of his later ideas, but the guy got a lot of things right.
This is going to start happening a fair bit - the "originals" who built computing are going to start dropping of old age and various illnesses. Pretty sad really. Right now it's like being in the beginning of the industrial revolution defining mechanical engineering: a few years later, and the entire field was sown up with patents by the corporates and moved with glacial slowness due to the mandatory 20-year wait period before you could build anything without the establishment's permission.
)- mechanical engineering patents are JUST AS BAD, they've just been around longer so people are used to the idea that some company has a right to stop you building machines in your garage because they paid the central bureaucracy a bribe. There are so many cool things in (electro)mechanical engineering that are forbidden by patents (particularly never-expiring "sealed for national security" patent applications - where threat to national security is anything that's bad for an oil company).
Don't let the same happen to software (in Europe anyway, might be too late for the USA, though the USA had decided to ignore patents before, and whaddayaknow, enjoyed a sort of mini-industrial-revolution while doing so...)
You want to try an Egremont Russet, if you can get them. But maybe they're not available in the USA (I'm guessing that is where you are), because they don't look like an American's stereotype of an apple: they're not red.
I recall wandering in my fave computer shop at the times, I was a proud Apple //c owner. There were the Lisa beast and the Mac. I could play with them a little. I was really blown away when I experienced the desktop metaphor and how it worked, it was the first time i could use a new system without touching a manual for command syntax.
This guy made a difference.
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
Did anyone else get the feeling he was a little bit self-aggrandizing? Whenever I would read his stuff, I got the sense that he was very bitter and wanted more credit for the mac. I mean, I am a very happy mac user, and so I do owe this guy a fair share of respect -- but there have been hundreds of other people involved in the invention and refinement of the GUI over the years. Jef spoke as though he was the cornerstone, which I'm not sure fits reality.
I've read bits of the humane interface and I champion the goals of improving UI. But he seemed unwilling to listen to anyone-- he had his opinions (menu selection is faster than key shortcuts) and he refused to let them go despite any argument (if they are, then why don't we type using a dropdown menu? )
Anyways -- he was one of many pioneers, and I am sad he won't get to add more to the field. But he was just one out of many, which he seemed to have a hard time admitting.
Cheers.
"We've lost a visionary folks, and that's just a shame. His loss hurts us all."
Agreed. Although what hurt us more was the fact that many didn't listen while he was still alive.
yet their more professional apps are meant to be used and demoed with multi button mice..
you can make up reasons all you want but it's just tradition, style, and wanting to seperate from the rest that's keeping them at 1 button now. style over function.
i don't think of it as particularly intuitive that i need to press a button on the keyboard to get the stuff i'd usually get from right clicking.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Because since Jef Raskin et alii's Mac GUI of 1984, a vast improvement over the Lisa and all other existing systems, nothing's changed much.
I'm using OS X right now; it's really the same thing plus the Dock, and maybe the finder's a bit better. It's time for another revolution.
I think it has to do with the number of fingers on your hand. Work arounds could be done for windows as they've been done for the Mac, but it would just deny the number of fingers sitting there at that mouse. Just as there really is no *need* for a mouse, but in some circumstances it makes things easier, there is no *need* for three-button scroll mice, but they make things *easier*.
i wonder when we'll start to see a large part of the early pioneers reaching the age where more headlines like this are being posted. it'scoming upon that time when the early enginneers are getting up there in years.
right on. I am a proud mac owner, but can't stand to use a mac with a one-button mouse. I love my iBook, but thank goodness for the 3-button support, as many audio apps especially use them all.
bullshit.
It is sad to note the passing of this pioneer. But the Mac UI as we know it has very little to do with Jef Raskin.
Raskin didn't "invent the Mac", he merely initiated the project. His original vision for the Mac was more along the lines of his Canon Cat. That all changed when Jobs took the project over and turned the Mac into "Lisa Jr".
I must confess I'm a bit surprised and disappointed at how effective Raskin's "I invented the Mac!" claims have been, even among slashdotters, who really ought to know better. A lot of posters here seem to have uncritically accepted his claims.
Read this for a bit of insight into Raskin's penchant for self promotion: I Invented Burrell
See also Andy Hertzfeld's take on who "invented the Mac".
Problem is, almost every interface I've ever used (including most apple ones) on the Mac was really (at least a) two-button interface, you just had to emulate the right mouse button with a key+click, an operation I always find HARDER than just a damn right click.
Actually, IMHO, the only platform to get it right was AmigaOS - two button mouse, right click activated the main hierarchical menu system - with no FUCKING STUPID JUMPAROUND CONTEXT MENUS that completely destroy ability to use muscle-memory to learn to do operations rapidly, context was indicated by ghosting out inapplicable menu items. Two buttons weren't "confusing". Left button was "select", right button was "menu", and that was that.
By default, the menus lived at the top of the screen like the Mac, but with a commodity (amiga daemon) called MagicMenu
they were whereever your mouse pointer was - the GOOD bit of context menus, but never changed ordering other than the context ghosting, unlike gay-ass conventional Windows/Mac/Linux context menus. I was at least 2x as fast using Amiga MagicMenu menus as any other platform before or since.
Mister Raskin, thanks for what you have done, for changing the world of computing. The few who see how GUI computing started will remember you.
There are a lot of great stories on Andy Hertzfeld's folklore.org site about the early days of the Mac, including many of the inevitable personality conflicts that arise when you have a lot of folks working under a deadline to get a huge project shipped. A fascinating site - I read it end to end when I came across it.
My sense is that while Jef had the original vision for the Mac it was Burrell Smith who did much of the actual implementation. If the Mac must have a father, Burrell might be the better choice.
Here's the funniest take on the whole thing.
I'm just surprised that there are no "Netcraft confirms: Jef Raskin is dying." comments.
Wait... Doh!
Is this mentioned anywhere else? Color me skeptical, but that's a very pro-mac site. Any place a little more unbiased maybe?
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
Sure, just like there's no Woz in my powerbook, or no Henry Ford in my car. Still...
Yet another hacker, after Bob Bemer in June 2004, has left this world. Sad.
Rest in peace, Jef.
But maybe they're not available in the USA (I'm guessing that is where you are), because they don't look like an American's stereotype of an apple: they're not red.
What a foolish, ridiculous comment that was. When you're finished being a xenophobic moron, you should try a Fuji apple. They're as crisp as a Granny Smith but sweeter.
You need to get over whatever's wrong with you.
Well, you're partly wrong. Apple, Microsoft and Xerox all borrowed ideas from somewhere else (that isn't necessarily bad, you know ... it's what makes progress possible.) The real crime is trying to lock up good ideas forever. But in any event, I would say the real GUI pioneer was a man named Doug Englebart, whose remarkable demonstration in 1968 at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco really laid the groundwork for what we all think of as a modern computer. Behind that demo was six years of hard work by Englebart and seventeen others at the Standford Research Institute. It took a couple decades for those ideas to take off, but take off they did.
Just FYI, streaming video of the Englebart demo is available HERE if you can handle RealMedia.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
The following documents provide a nice insight in the man's work at Apple on the Mac project:i ndex.html/
http://library.stanford.edu/mac/primary/docs/bom/
especially the article on Design Considerations (M4.1) makes a nice read:
"If the computer must be opened for any reason other than repair (for which our prospective user must be assumed incompetent) even at the dealer's, then it does not meet our requirements. Seeing the guts is taboo. Things in sockets is taboo (unless to make servicing cheaper without imposing too large an initial cost). Billions of keys on the keyboard is taboo. Computerese is taboo. Large manuals, or many of them (large manuals are a sure sign of bad design) is taboo. Self- instructional programs are NOT taboo.
There must not be a plethora of configurations. It is better to offer a variety of case colors than to have variable amounts of memory. It is better to manufacture versions in Early American, Contemporary, and Louis XIV than to have any external wires beyond a power cord.
And you get ten points if you can eliminate the power cord."
(may read 'IMHO' wherever omitted from above text)
Here is the most recent interviews before he died. He is a very creative guy, that's for sure.
Creative Demolition
RIAA says that's what Raskin gets for stealing!
Jef Raskins work at Apple, with the Mac is well documented at www.folklore.org. The site created by Andy Hertzfeld has now been made into a book called Revolution in The Valley - a collection of esoteric stories that chronical the birth and development the Mac.
peterrenshaw ~ Another Scrappy Startup
...when a man like Jef Raskin dies and Steve Ballmer is still walking the earth.
pay my most sincere respect to the guy who named his biggest invention to his favorite fruit.
Shows how much he loved apple the fruit.
We'll remember you. And thanks for everything.
you had me at #!
... doesn't stop one seeking employment.
a e. html
http://jef.raskincenter.org/home/curriculum_vit
-Steve
The reasoning was good in 1984. In 2004, its not as good.
Or to put it another way, the number of people inconvenienced by the 1 button mouse is greater than the number of idiot users who can't work both buttons.
Why does it matter?
In general, it doesn't. Go buy a new mouse.
But on their laptop computers, it matters. It really cripples the Powerbook. Really really cripples it.
When you see a Mac, you think. Wow! Its 1984 all over again!
What kind/type of cancer?
Was it AIDS related?
We UI developers of various industries owe Jef their deepest gratitude. We also owe you, his family, our gratitude as well. Thank you for letting him work the long hours, for helping him endure what seemed like fruitless (no pun intended) meetings that probably frustrated him from time-to-time, and for listening to him rant aloud about his interface musings as he bored you for hours (don't the great ones often do that?).
I'm sure you realize how much Jef's work has affected, no, changed, our lives. Everyone in the modern world has been touched by Jef's work. Probably more so than most great artists of any genre. Not everyone likes the Beatles, but almost everyone has used a computer interface at work or at home that has been influenced by Mr. Raskin. The users, of course, don't think of Jef every time they click a dialog box, but society is different at every level because of his work. Computers are accessible and usable to almost everyone because not everyone understands what a "command line" is.
Our prayers, thoughts, and thanks for Jef Raskin and his family on this sad day. Godspeed Jef.
Sincerest thanks,
Users and User Interface Developers Everywhere
Oh, be quiet Mr. Gates. That story is getting old.
You can watch 'Triumph of The Nerds' to see what really happened. There's an interview with the woman who _invented_ the GUI at Xerox. She didn't want to give it out but and Jobs rushed in with a disk screaming he wants it etc...
Jobs is an asshole who _stole_ the GUI from Xerox. Jobs also says (in the documentary) that they also showed him OOP but he was to ignorant to see the benefit of that (his own words).
truth.
and spearheaded not by Steve Jobs (he actually lobbied against the Mac project at one point)
It's interesting to think of what might have happened if the Mac had never come to fruition and Apple had just pursued the evolution of the Apple II line.
The coolest voice ever.
I think it has to do with the number of fingers on your hand.
In that case, why aren't five-button mice more popular?
The difference is, in the beginning the Mac software was designed for a mouse with one and only one button, and that hasn't changed much despite the fact that current software supports that second (and third, even) button. For the iMacs that people are only going to use for browsing the web, iTunes, and word processing, more buttons just won't get used. Maybe the answer would be to ship multi-button mice with the higher-grade power-user-oriented systems like the PowerMac G5, and stick with the single button mouse for the rest of them. (Still, it's certainly possible to plug in any old scroll mouse and use it just as easily as their one-button mouse, so it's pretty much a moot point anyway.)
Bears don't normally eat things that talk and move backwards.
Perhaps you would be interested in what Raskin has to say about the 1-button mouse:
As for the one-button mouse, I'd observed at Xerox Parc which had a 3-button mouse, that people were very confused as to its use and when I was designing the software for the Macintosh, in designing the interface, I figured that if there was only one button, there would never be any question on what you have to press the number of ways of using a one-button mouse. I think this was probably a mistake, in fact there is an appendix in my book which discusses why I think this was a mistake and what I think I should have done. One of the reasons I made the mistake is that there is a certain school of industrial design dating back to the Bauhaus which says that designs have to be simple, uncluttered, and clean. In particular, don't put writing on it except for brand names or logos. If we had had a multiple-button mouse with two keys, labeled something like "select" and "activate," it would have been much easier to use, but the idea of putting writing on keys did not occur to anybody, including me. So if I was designing one today, it would have two buttons and they would be labeled. The labeling also the other good effect of forcing software designers to use them as labels otherwise it's clear that they are being misused.
Jef also opined on the source of aerodynamic lift, giving rise to airplane flight, with an explanation that runs counter to the traditional one based on the Bernoulli effect.
On this page, Jef discusses the Coanda effect, which is familiar to anyone who's been annoyed by water or juice running down the side of a pitcher (instead of getting into your glass). An interesting read, no matter your stake on the matter.
Every rule has an exception (except this one).
Rubbish. Maybe the first few apple-controlled Mac apps were fully functional with one button, but almost all nowadays need to use key+clicks, which are as bad or worse than multi-button mice.
There's now a huge industry surrounding UI design and usability, I hope the entire community pays their respects.
Couldn't stand the weather
Words like "aggrandizing" and "arrogant" seem ill suited to a man quick to answer his email, even from unknowns like me. Anyone who doubts Raskin's contribution should pick up a copy of "The Humane Interface" and read it, and try to find anything to compare it with. After Doug Englebart, I don't know anyone who made a similar contribution to usability.
Not sure, but wasn't it XEROX that actually contributed the most to modern GUI interface as we know it? My impression is that apple stole it from xerox and then micorosoft stole it from apple? I could be wrong? not sure?
I never really owned a Mac, but every time i tried one (from the original Mac to the newer ones running OSX) i am floored by their user interface. When Apple jokes everyone steals UI ideas from them, they do it with reason.
My deepest condolences to his family and friends.
It was Raskin who named it after his favorite fruit, the McIntosh apple, although he said that he changed the spelling to "Macintosh" to avoid potential copyright conflicts with McIntosh, the audio equipment manufacturer.
Once again.. for the millionth time: it's not about copyright when you are dealing with brand names (like M[a]cIntosh), it's a trademark issue.
I think you guys missed Apple's tribute to Jeff
http://www.apple.com/thinkdifferent/
Raskin, whether you liked him or not, forced you to think about the issue of usability in the light of learnability, which are too often very separate things. It is possible for an interface to be hard to learn, yet very usable once you understand how it works, and god knows the opposite is also true. This is obviously not a very commercial idea, and possibly why he never got on with Steve Jobs.
Raskin knew that usability isnt just what looks good in the showroom, but what endures and helps the user once the eye candy has worn off. Very few have been prepared or able to make that leap.
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
until someone empties the Trash.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
You could try looking at these articles read all of them and you will see that the how process was iterative and dynamic it fed of previous work and innovated. It is worth noting that the developers never denied that they learnt from previous research. It is strange that some how the fact that every influence on a technology is not printed on the front of the box is some how seen as denying history, when actually its absence has more to expediency.
/ historical/inventingthelisauserinterface
/ historical/thelegacyofthelisa
/ historical/thelisauserinterface
/ historical/thexeroxaltocomputer
/ historical/designingthestaruserinterface
so here are the urls
http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/guidebook/articles
Note how modern the screen-shot at the top of the article looks, and also the columns like interface that was prototyped about 2/3 way down.
also see here about new features introduced by the lisa later used on the macintosh
http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/guidebook/articles
http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/guidebook/articles
on on the star (influence is obvious but that in no way takes away from the apple development teams achievements)
http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/guidebook/articles
http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/guidebook/articles
Also worth investigating is the development of a mass produceable mouse for the original mac (was on slashdot quite a wile ago not sure how long but may be over 2 years ago). It demonstrates that just because a mouse as a prototype exists making it into a usable commodity device involves quite a bit of invention and originality of thought.
Worth considering before you say people stole a concept.
Well, actually OS X has a BSD-layer, running on top of the Mach microkernel.
Regardless, McIntosh made some awesome tube amps.
I see a lot of comments here regarding whether Raskin was really the cornerstone of the Macintosh. I don't think any of US can really answer that, but it seems to me that Mr. Raskin fits Apple's definition:
Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
*mourn*
I dont know what hapens after we die , but if your out there somewhere then i hope this gets to you
Mr Raskin
The first computer i ever used was a zx spectrum , the first computer that ever made me feel pasionate about computing was a mac.
I myself am severly dyslexic and dysphraxic and during my younger years had great difficulty in schooling, had it not been for the mac in our school i feel i would still be marked slow , the interface allowed me to put my thoughts down so other people could understand , it allowed me to excell and fill in a void which would have crippled my education.
I owe you and your team alot as do many others who were in my situation.
so tonight i shall open a 12 year old speyside single malt and drink a glass to honour your memory.
Thank you for all you have done for the world
Gregg Taylor Kincaid
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
I should have pointed to references. I didn't expect to upset anyone. OS X has the Mach microkernel and the BSD source tree. For more info check OS X on Wikipedia.
Very stupid comment,get the stick out of your ass.
I don't think "select" and "activate" would be easily understood by the kind of user the one button mouse was designed for. And the theory of simple, uncluttered design that Raskin cites here holds true -- writing on a mouse would not be helpful to anyone, I don't think. I personally use a 5 button mouse on my Mac but I understand and agree with the simple design philosophy that led to the one button mouse. For a power user, a 2+ button mouse makes sense, and they are cheap and they "just work" on a mac. But for the user who already has computer anxiety a one button mouse is perfect -- simple and clear; no confusion about what to push. Adding unclear words like "select" and "Activate" would not help at all, I think! Those who understand the difference don't need the writing on the mouse, and those who don't understand it will just find it more confusing.
my favorite jef raskin story:
n tosh&story=I_Invented_Burrell.txt&sortOrder=Sort%2 0by%20Date&detail=medium&search=jef%20raskin
http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Maci
Whatever idea that you came up with, Jef Raskin had a tendency to claim that he invented it at some earlier point. That trait was the basis of Burrell's impersonation of Jef.
Jef had a slight stammer, which Burrell nailed perfectly. Burrell began by folding his fingers together like Jef and then exclaiming in a soft, Jef-like voice, "Why, why, why, I invented the Macintosh!"
Then Burrell would shift to his radio announcer voice, playing the part of an imaginary interviewer. "No, I thought that Burrell invented the Macintosh", the interviewer would object.
He'd shift back to his Jef voice for the punch line.
"Why, why, why, I invented Burrell!"
It is probably BS that the decision to name Apple Computers had anything to do with this, but the story about Turing is likely true, at least that is what is reported here, among other places.
Encyclopedia Britanica beat that update speed! (re: Wikipedia)
Setting his threshold to 5, Sparky eliminated most of the trolls on /.
I look forward to Apple's website reflecting Raskin's role more fully, perhaps reflecting some of the excellent material at Digibarn, including Jef's original review of the project in 1981. But the slowness of a Sunday response on the website should not be taken as evidence of lack of respect. After hearing that Jef also had pancreatic cancer, Steve Jobs reached out directly to him privately. The battles of twenty years ago do not need to still be re-fought; far more interesting is to support the Archy project, which Jef in his last days was trying to get to an alpha release. It would be a fitting tribute for Apple to step in with support, and incorporating some of Jef's recent work would make the Mac a much more efficient machine for many kinds of work. Time to coome together, and support and extend Jef's work as a tribute. db
For 12 years I was a slave in the land of DOS, unable to do anything with my computer, constantly living in fear of it, constantly limited in my ability to do anything I wanted to because I couldn't deal with cryptic, ridiculous commands. Until the macintosh set me free.
Jef, you are the original Free Software pioneer. While others like Stallman may have promoted freedom for the programmer to modify code, you promoted freedom for the everyday person to use their computer.
While you may have LEAPed beyond this existence familiar to us all, and for some things there is no undo, others will carry on your work and fight for that which you held dear.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
If there is a God, and such a thing as an afterlife, lets hope Jef's switching them to Macs.
When I go, if I got somewhere, I'd be seriously pissed if the windows box at the pearly gates fucking bluescreened just as I got there.
Uh, moderators? Parent is not a troll! Check your facts!
... from a Mac User
I'm glad you were here.
Thanks for all you've done. You truly are missed man.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Adele Goldberg, but she didn't invent the GUI any more than Henry Ford invented the automobile.
Writers imply. Readers infer.
The bitten apple is a tribute to the late, great, Alan Turing (google: "apple logo turing" for info)
Author, Shell Scripting : Expert Re
And it's entirely fitting that he be one, of course. Cranks with wild ideas are, after all, the ones who "think different."
I see a great need for a Jef Raskin "Think Different" poster.
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
I'm from Washington State. We're well known for our apples. Granny Smith, Yellow Delicious, Fuji, Gravenstein, Transparent, Braeburn; you name it, we got it. I won't eat a red apple. Just who the fuck are you?
This is a little freaky. Jobs and Raskin, rivals for the title of father of the Macintosh, both get pancreatic cancer... which is rare to begin with... and usually a death sentence.
Raskin dies of it, Jobs lives...
I'm not sure exactly what it means, but it must mean something.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Jef was my hero.
I admire some other guys, but no one as much as Jef.
Bullshit.
It was Raskin who pushed for the use of bitmapped displays (even Wozniak, let alone Jobs, had a hard time being convinced to depart from character generators). He proposed them as early as 1969 (sixty-nine) in his PhD dissertation. That's even before PARC got created. Jobs was probably still wetting his bed in 1969.
It was Raskin who had to convince Jobs to visit PARC.
It was Raskin who simplified PARC's cumbersome three-button mouse interface to the point that only one button was required. And he was actually still not quite happy with the mouse as an input device.
What were you saying?
One of the first emails I sent was to Jef Raskin, applauding his work after doing some reading on human interface. He sent me back a very nice letter, and man, was I suprised. So long Jef, and thanks.
"You know why you do not see me styling wit my homies? Because I have no homies!!" -Mojo Jojo
That's completely untrue as the other posters have said, but I also heard that story on the tour around Bletchley Park - the center of the British code-breaking people of WWII.
When I heard it, I found it funny that their own history contradicts that very tenuous link: when Apple was named, the code-breaking efforts of the Bletchley Park geniuses were still mostly secret, and the story of Alan Turing was very unlikely to be known by a couple of Atari employees in California.
(If they had, "Colossus" - the world's first codebreaking computer - would have been a great name for the original Mac!)
I think the misinformation stems from the amateur historians desperate to somehow get Bletchley linked to the wider world. It's an amusing anecdote, but a bit silly.
By the way, if you're in Britain, pay a visit to the place. It's pretty interesting.
First, Jef was not fired from Apple. Jef quit.
Second, Jef was important enough at Apple that he was approached by senior management (I believe it was Michael Scott) to create a video game system and was able to convince them to do the Mac project instead. He also ran their publications group. He started a tradition of execellence in that group that continues today.
Third, many of the ideas that ultimately made it into the Mac came from Jef. For example, Jef was the person who thought of the idea of rounded rectangles being an important graphics primitive in the Mac.
Fourth, Jef was important enough at Apple to have been granted enough stock to make him a millionaire when the Apple IPO occurred. In fact, Jef quickly liquidated his stock because he felt like the day to day shift in the stock price was distracting him from his work. Jobs saw this as a "lack of commitment" to Apple which is part of why they did not get along well. Also, both Jef and Steve were trying to boss the same project. However, many of the "Steve" ideas really came from Jef.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
I grew up in a major fruit producing town in Michigan. McIntosh apples that are stored through the winter are not very good, if you get them in season they are quite good. Much more flavor than the pretty looking Red Delicious. Personally I like Paula Reds for eating. And a mix of Golden Delicious and Granny Smiths for pies. McIntosh is good in a pie too, but they can get a little runny if don't put a little extra flour in with the filling.
I suspect McIntosh is popular because they have this perfect texture for eating fresh. And they are probably the messiest(you ever had an apple where you had juice just rolling down your chin? Probably a McIntosh).
ps- I'll miss Jef, I've chatted with him a bit and also worked with him and enjoyed his talks at SVFIG. He was a brilliant guy with many interests.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Jef raskin dies of pancreatic cancer, Steve Jobs was diagnosed late last year and whisked off to hospital also for pancreatic cancer - If I were andy hertzfeld, i'd be off getting tested. could this be a mac founder's curse? of course not - all a coincidence. nothing to see here folks, move along.
I used to have a better sig than this, but I got tired of it
What were you saying?
What the author wanted to say?
That a computer should be for the common man? (Instead of the boorishly fashionable?)
Should be affordable? (Instead of stupid excuses like, "you pay for the quality, which we know is a position defendable only with half-truths and straw-man arguments?)
There is only one!
When the 128k mac shipped, the signatures of the people who created it were molded on the inside of the case. Here's the collection; Jef's name in the bottom-left corner.
That's probably the best mention Apple gave Raskin - his name's inside every 128k and 512k mac.
I play Nerd-Folk!
I dont get it. He died of cancer just after few months???
...
First, "cancer" is a broad term covering hundreds of different diseases.
Second, different cancers advance at different rates.
Third, different cancers have the tendency to "hide" longer in the human body, developing "silently" and by the time they are symptomatic, and hence discovered, they are much closer to the point of causing the patient's demise.
Fourth, even a cancer spreading at the same rate as another can have more drastic effects on the body. Think for example of something pressing on your calf, vs. something pressing on the breathing control center of your brain.
Fifth, often cancer doesn't "follow the rules" and will act completely differently in one patient than oncologists expect.
I'm glad your brother in law was able to be at the other end of that last spectrum. Keep in mind that means that his extended life implies that for the average to be an average, someone else in his situation died sooner-than-estimated.
I'm posting this anonymously since I have advanced cancer myself, but don't choose to disclose my medical situation in a public seting such as this.
His wife should be ashamed because she obviously didnt encourage him to seek treatment. And this is not a troll. I speak from experience
You speak from either malice or ignorance. What you say is both hurtful and shameful.
I hope this anonymous reply is modded up higher than whatever level your comment reaches, so that none who do not know better are influenced by your vicious words.
Aviva,
First, let me express my sincere condolences at this time.
Since you are obviously reading here, there is a hurtful post just above yours, authored by one Reservoir Penguin, to which I have attempted to respond factually, in an attempt to dispel the lies spread there. Unfortunately, as I posted this anonymously (due to my own cancer status) that reply will remain less-visible unless some moderator intervenes. Please take the time to read my reply, if you see the hurtful post I mention, and realize that not everyone here is as vicious as Reservoir Penguin.
Best wishes in this time of tremendous loss.
i would like to express my condolences to his family. Rest in peace. Thanks for all that you have contributed in computing.
Today Jef Raskin invented yet another important user interface, allowing human beings to communicate with the afterworld for the first time ever.
In October 1979 as I was being shown Bandley III for the first time, I had the striking memory of seeing the writer Steve Clark's office embrasured with a passel of fold-together cardboard widgets which I was told Jef had designed, just for fun.
After Apple went public he bought a Bentley(!), which for Cupertino-Palo Alto was still a novelty among the technouveau riche.
For me Jef was the spiritual prototype for John Percival Hackworth, the Victorian nanotech engineer.
Rest in peace and see you in version 2.0, Jef.
I hope someone at the Raskin centre knows the answer to this http://jef.raskincenter.org/humor/alien_arithmetic .html
, or was it just a hoax all along :-(
rt
One of Jeff's ideas was that *search* was a fundamental operation of computing. He dedicated a keyboard key called LEAP to this function to avoid the confusion of swithcing to a search mode.
In some respect Google Desktop and perhaps web serach engines themselves are the latest implementation of this concept.
For some reason Golden Delicious grown in Europe or even on the West coast taste like stryofoam. On the East coast they have a honey-like flavor. (different climate I guess?) And when cooked they have a nice contrasting texture against the granny smiths. It's makes for a sweet and mellow pie. Bramleys are almost unheard of in the US, and I suspect they prefer the climate of the UK. Hot summers and long cool spring and fall is the kind of weather we have to contend with. It's an excellent climate for nearly all peaches and certain varieties of apples.
But ultimately I would recommend that you make apple pie out of whatever apples are available locally. Apples that are shipped 1000 miles simply aren't as flavorful. The trick is the find either a sweet and tart variety that grows in your area or simple mix two varieties to get the same result.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Rest in Peace.
How strange is it that both Steve Jobs and Jeff Raskin suffered from Pancreatic Cancer? They are both closely linked in history together.
Steve was very lucky to have had the type he had. My thoughts go out to Jeffs close friends and family at this time.
People like Jeff will live on as pioneers of computing, just as distinguished fellows of other sciences.
We live in exciting times, many of the people who started the art and science of computing are still alive, and still advancing the field.
When all the first guiding hands of Computing are no longer here, who knows what developments there will be from new generations.
Computers are advancing at rapid rates through our small lifetime, but it's still just the beginning.
I claimed to have invented the wankel rotary engine. But that doesnt' make it so.
Slashdotters, I have been working with the Raskins for several years to document Jef's life and work for the DigiBarn Computer Museum. I have turned Jef's page at the museum site into a memorial page for him. See what Jef was all about (more than just GUIs) at:
Jef Raskin: A Life of Design and the rest of the DigiBarn is of relevance to this topic at:
DigiBarn Computer Museum
Thanks!
Bruce Damer, Curator
England might be well known for its apples in Europe, but Washington is unsurpassed for apple variety and flavOr. We do get some good NZ apples over here these days, mind you. But I've sure as hell never had an English apple.
I suppose the term "Mac Daddy" would be inappropriate here.
While I'm at it, wasn't it a master's thesis, not a phd dissertation?
hawk
I've often wondered if emacs is really a microsoft producct.
Think about it, it
1) requires all currently available resources, and then some [1]
2) Tries to do absolutely everything.
3) Is downright hostile to all other existing standards.
However, I decided that it wasn't, as it is missing #4)
4) Crashes a lot.
hawk
[1] OK, it's much better about this today, but historically it started with massive demands which grew just as fast as machines added resources.
A true pioneer of modern computing is gone.
Find funky gifts
Mr. Raskin died of pancreatic cancer. Isn't that what Steve Jobs was treated for as well but just not the fatal form??? Interesting coincidence huh....What is going on at One Cupertino Drive. A toast to a very productive life!
Forget any lies in the memorial. this thread is full of false achievements.
:
/ Ap /Apple_Macintosh.htm
Raskin was a fool. His work since 1985 shows his anti mouse hostilities but even his work at apple was sabatoge and illthinking.
In the first major book on macintosh engineering that SHIPPED in 1984 along with the mac, the anti mouse fanatic was DOCUMENTED across america in countless bookstores in The Book of Macintosh.
refer to kind summary of these facts in link
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/A
refer to the line "Notable is Raskin's insistence on using meta-keys, rather than a mouse, to act as a pointing device. "
from that page.
repeat after me : "Notable is Raskin's insistence on using meta-keys, rather than a mouse, to act as a pointing device. "
Raskin was so anti mouse he did all he could his ENTIRE CARREER to eliminate buttons, scrolling, windows, clicking, dragging, etc.
I am not making this up.
I own the famous and historic data packed history book from 1984 entitled "The Book of Macintosh"
It is a FACT that RAskin was a horrible GUI designer and a hater of the mac.
He was going to get fired if he did not quit as soon as he did.
I cannot believe I and his coworkers are the only few people that remember his arguments with Steve Jobs to not ship or design a mouse with the macintosh!!!!!
his next projects he designed outside apple were all NON MOUSE word processsing computers,
Naturally the mac lived on, and thrived, and finally Raskin dies,
I am finally happy once again.
Long live the Mac and LONG LIVE THE MOUSE!!!
no on moderates or reads any more on slashdot but the submission was flame bait to enrage the few people like me that despised the anti mouse Raskin. It worked my blood pressure is up. Maybe i will die next of disgust at this thread heaping undeserved praise to a fanatic anti-mac zealot.
good riddance to undeserved heroes.
:
/ Ap /Apple_Macintosh.htm
he was anti mac and out of apple in 1982 or so.
Raskin was a fool. His work since 1985 shows his anti mouse hostilities but even his work at apple was sabatoge and illthinking.
In the first major book on macintosh engineering that SHIPPED in 1984 along with the mac, the anti mouse fanatic was DOCUMENTED across america in countless bookstores in The Book of Macintosh.
refer to kind summary of these facts in link
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/A
refer to the line "Notable is Raskin's insistence on using meta-keys, rather than a mouse, to act as a pointing device. "
from that page.
repeat after me : "Notable is Raskin's insistence on using meta-keys, rather than a mouse, to act as a pointing device. "
Raskin was so anti mouse he did all he could his ENTIRE CARREER to eliminate buttons, scrolling, windows, clicking, dragging, etc.
I am not making this up.
I own the famous and historic data packed history book from 1984 entitled "The Book of Macintosh"
It is a FACT that RAskin was a horrible GUI designer and a hater of the mac.
He was going to get fired if he did not quit as soon as he did.
I cannot believe I and his coworkers are the only few people that remember his arguments with Steve Jobs to not ship or design a mouse with the macintosh!!!!!
his next projects he designed outside apple were all NON MOUSE word processsing computers,
Naturally the mac lived on, and thrived, and finally Raskin dies,
I am finally happy once again.
Long live the Mac and LONG LIVE THE MOUSE!!!
no on moderates or reads any more on slashdot but the submission was flame bait to enrage the few people like me that despised the anti mouse Raskin. It worked my blood pressure is up. Maybe i will die next of disgust at this thread heaping undeserved praise to a fanatic anti-mac zealot.
read up on the FACTS of his anti mouse fanaticism
The parent post is obviously a flame because history books from 1984 prove that Raskin was hostile to the idea of the mac and in fact ANTI MOUSE!
:
/ Ap /Apple_Macintosh.htm
Raskin was a fool. His work since 1985 shows his anti mouse hostilities but even his work at apple was sabatoge and illthinking.
In the first major book on macintosh engineering that SHIPPED in 1984 along with the mac, the anti mouse fanatic was DOCUMENTED across america in countless bookstores in The Book of Macintosh.
refer to kind summary of these facts in link
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/A
refer to the line "Notable is Raskin's insistence on using meta-keys, rather than a mouse, to act as a pointing device. "
from that page.
repeat after me : "Notable is Raskin's insistence on using meta-keys, rather than a mouse, to act as a pointing device. "
Raskin was so anti mouse he did all he could his ENTIRE CARREER to eliminate buttons, scrolling, windows, clicking, dragging, etc.
I am not making this up.
I own the famous and historic data packed history book from 1984 entitled "The Book of Macintosh"
It is a FACT that RAskin was a horrible GUI designer and a hater of the mac.
He was going to get fired if he did not quit as soon as he did.
I cannot believe I and his coworkers are the only few people that remember his arguments with Steve Jobs to not ship or design a mouse with the macintosh!!!!!
his next projects he designed outside apple were all NON MOUSE word processsing computers,
Naturally the mac lived on, and thrived, and finally Raskin dies,
I am finally happy once again.
Long live the Mac and LONG LIVE THE MOUSE!!!
no on moderates or reads any more on slashdot but the submission was flame bait to enrage the few people like me that despised the anti mouse Raskin. It worked my blood pressure is up. Maybe i will die next of disgust at this thread heaping undeserved praise to a fanatic anti-mac zealot.
good riddance because he was the ENEMY of the mouse and therefore the OPPOSITE of what the parent post claimed "Computers are accessible and usable to almost everyone because not everyone understands what a "command line" is." hah!
READ and learn. Raskin despised the mac and mice in general.
No the poster was explaining what INSIDERS know... raskin was a horrible designer and history books of 1984 document his hatered of the mouse. he was a command line lover through adn through until long after the mac shipped.
Ha?!
read and LEARN
Do not thank him. Thank Steve Jobs.
:
/ Ap /Apple_Macintosh.htm
Raskin was a fool. His work since 1985 shows his anti mouse hostilities but even his work at apple was sabatoge and illthinking.
In the first major book on macintosh engineering that SHIPPED in 1984 along with the mac, the anti mouse fanatic was DOCUMENTED across america in countless bookstores in The Book of Macintosh.
refer to kind summary of these facts in link
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/A
refer to the line "Notable is Raskin's insistence on using meta-keys, rather than a mouse, to act as a pointing device. "
from that page.
repeat after me : "Notable is Raskin's insistence on using meta-keys, rather than a mouse, to act as a pointing device. "
Raskin was so anti mouse he did all he could his ENTIRE CARREER to eliminate buttons, scrolling, windows, clicking, dragging, etc.
I am not making this up.
I own the famous and historic data packed history book from 1984 entitled "The Book of Macintosh"
It is a FACT that RAskin was a horrible GUI designer and a hater of the mac.
He was going to get fired if he did not quit as soon as he did.
I cannot believe I and his coworkers are the only few people that remember his arguments with Steve Jobs to not ship or design a mouse with the macintosh!!!!!
his next projects he designed outside apple were all NON MOUSE word processsing computers,
Naturally the mac lived on, and thrived, and finally Raskin dies,
I am finally happy once again.
Long live the Mac and LONG LIVE THE MOUSE!!!
no on moderates or reads any more on slashdot but the submission was flame bait to enrage the few people like me that despised the anti mouse Raskin. It worked my blood pressure is up. Maybe i will die next of disgust at this thread heaping undeserved praise to a fanatic anti-mac zealot.
Raskins world for a dyslexic would have been a hellish world of flashing text and command prompts.
HE WAS ANTI MOUSE! read and learn.
YOu think being marked a trroll is bad? I tried being the FIRST to post the fact that existing history books written in 1984 document how Raskin was the enemy of the mac and the mouse and yet my post was also marked -1 by brainwashed fools that do not read books of the era.
:
/ Ap /Apple_Macintosh.htm
RASKIN hated the mouse to his very core. He was anti GUI.
Raskin was a fool. His work since 1985 shows his anti mouse hostilities but even his work at apple was sabatoge and illthinking.
In the first major book on macintosh engineering that SHIPPED in 1984 along with the mac, the anti mouse fanatic was DOCUMENTED across america in countless bookstores in The Book of Macintosh.
refer to kind summary of these facts in link
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/A
refer to the line "Notable is Raskin's insistence on using meta-keys, rather than a mouse, to act as a pointing device. "
from that page.
repeat after me : "Notable is Raskin's insistence on using meta-keys, rather than a mouse, to act as a pointing device. "
Raskin was so anti mouse he did all he could his ENTIRE CARREER to eliminate buttons, scrolling, windows, clicking, dragging, etc.
I am not making this up.
I own the famous and historic data packed history book from 1984 entitled "The Book of Macintosh"
It is a FACT that RAskin was a horrible GUI designer and a hater of the mac.
He was going to get fired if he did not quit as soon as he did.
I cannot believe I and his coworkers are the only few people that remember his arguments with Steve Jobs to not ship or design a mouse with the macintosh!!!!!
his next projects he designed outside apple were all NON MOUSE word processsing computers,
Naturally the mac lived on, and thrived, and finally Raskin dies,
I am finally happy once again.
Long live the Mac and LONG LIVE THE MOUSE!!!
no on moderates or reads any more on slashdot but the submission was flame bait to enrage the few people like me that despised the anti mouse Raskin. It worked my blood pressure is up. Maybe i will die next of disgust at this thread heaping undeserved praise to a fanatic anti-mac zealot.
Shame on people that try to erase history. It makes me sick.
> BSD won't die anytime soon. OS X has BSD under the hood
:)
"Why, why, why... I invented BSD!"
Steve Jobs, is that you? :-)
It's hard to tell between strong opinion and a solid troll these days, but I'd go with the opinion part. Yes, Jef Raskin hated everything the Mac stood and still stands for. That's visionaries for you...
It's strange what death does to your opponents. I wrote strongly about how I hated Raskin's Humane Interface, but now I feel all bad about it. It's not that I disrepected him or his lifetime achievement. I just didn't agree. Anyone here feel the same?
Bottom of google.com has a line for Jef.
Make your computer faster: rm -rf
Other than seeing him on TechTV a few months ago, I didn't know much about Raskin until he died and I had a chance to do some research.
I've found that many of his ideas are sneaking back into computing. Take for instance the 1987 Canon Cat computer. One of its highlighted features was a way to quickly find files by using search strings instead of icons or hyperlinks.
When you think about Google suite of applications, Apple's upcomming Spotlight, and similar features boasted in MS Longhorn, it seems that this style of thinking was ahead of its time.
Well I'm pretty good with my thumb, index finger, and middle finger. My ring finger and little finger are much less agile. Doing double duty with my index finger, I could use an extra button by my thumb. Four buttons would be sufficent.
I had spoken to Jef about the current Mac OS X and his work, and his book over e-mail, He was a very nice man and had a clear mission : To make computers easier to use.
He was an interface designer who had the real knowledge of what interface design actually is, something that today's designers easily forget.
A month or two before Jef passed away, I bought his interface design book which I highly recommend to anyone interested.
Jef is a person who should never be forgotten .