Macintosh Creator Raskin Dies at 61
One of the biggest things I give Jef credit for was putting together the very beginnings of the Mac team with some extraordinary people who didn’t necessarily have the credentials, but had everything else to do something great.
- Andy Hertzfeld
If you’re not familiar with Jef Raskin, don’t feel badly. Few people are. It’s just that he’s the single biggest reason that the computer you are reading this on looks and acts the way it does. Time was when “personal” computers were text-based and users had to remember all manner of arcane and non-intuitive commands in order to use them. Those of us who are old enough to remember COBOL, FORTRAN, and yes, even UNIX can vouch for this. I was so proud of myself the day I finally wrote a FORTRAN program that calculated simple interest that I almost wet myself. But, alas, I digress….
Raskin had the (at the time) radical idea that computers could and should be easier to use. “User-friendly” is the norm as well as the expectation now. It certainly wasn’t the case in 1979. The braintrust at Apple gave Raskin the go-ahead, having no idea at the time that his small team would create a computer interface that would revolutionize the way people and computers process information.
In 1979, Raskin had a different idea: A computer that’s priced affordably, targeted at consumers and extremely easy to use. A small team, under his command, was put together at Apple to pursue his concept that would eventually become the Macintosh.
“His role on the Macintosh was the initiator of the project, so it wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him,” said Andy Hertzfeld, an early Mac team member.
Raskin also named the Macintosh after his favorite apple, though the name was slightly changed because of a trademark issue with another company.
Raskin led the project until the summer of 1981, when he had a falling out with Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder. He left the company entirely the following year….
When the Mac was unveiled in 1984, it radically changed the personal computer industry. No longer were users forced to type commands. Instead, its interface mimicked a physical desktop with folders and filing cabinets. Documents could be dragged from one area to another.
The final Mac, however, was priced at an unaffordable $2,495 when it first appeared on the market and sales were disappointing after the first few months. But the concepts behind the Mac interface quickly found their way into other software, including Microsoft Corp.’s Windows.
To say that the Macintosh revolutionized personal computers would be an impressive understatement. With the introduction of the Mac, computers became truly “personal”, and one no longer needed to be the proud owner of a pocket protector in order to use one. Sure, their were problems that ultimately prevented the Mac from gaining wider acceptance, but Raskin’s brainchild is largely responsible for the look and functionality of every personal computer that came after the Mac.
Though we know about Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, et. al., and all that they have done to change our world, we should take a moment to remember Jef Raskin. Without Raskin’s vision- while it is quite likely that while someone would eventually have come up a workable Graphic User Interface- our world would likely be a very different place than it is today.
Sometimes, the most important pioneers are the ones who manage to avoid attracting undue attention. After all, it’s hard to get any real work done when you’re smack in the glare of the spotlight.
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