Jef Raskin

Jef Raskin (born the March 9th 1943, dead the February 26th 2005 with Pacifica, California, the United States) is the specialist in the man-machine Interface to which Apple called upon the beginning of the project Macintosh. It is at the origin of the interface of the first Mac OS, and in particular invented the Slip-to deposit. He is the author of The Humane Interface , mainly based on his work with the Canon Cat.

He obtains the title of Bachelor off Science (B.S.) in Mathématiques and Bachelor off Arts (B.A.) in Philosophie with the Université of New York of Stony Brook and obtains a master computer science with the Université of Pennsylvania. He holds an use of assistant of course in Arts and music at the University of California (San Diego). He founds then the firm softwares Bannister & Crun.

Jef Raskin is engaged by Apple in January 1978; it is the 31e employed. He convinces then one of his students, Bill Atkinson, to leave the University to come to work at Apple. One entrusts to him the Publications department, in charge of the writing of the instruction manuals.

In spring 1979, it starts the project Annie : a Game console cheap. Quickly, the project evolves to a computer compact, without capacity of extension, general public and simple of use, with less than 1000 $. If simple of use which the machine should be delivered without handbook.

In September 1979, the project is renamed Macintosh, of the name of a variety of apple.

The very first prototype of the Macintosh, conceived by a self-educated young person hacker, Burrell Smith, was built in January 1980: in the modest shape of an expander card d' for Apple {{II}} equipped with a processor 6809E and of 64 K random access memory, it allowed a posting 256 X 256 on a small monitor 7 inches black & white.

In 1981, Steve Jobs, then isolated the project LISA and without precise mission in the company, seizes the project of Raskin.

One allots to Raskin in particular the decision to allot one button to the mouse. It directs the software part until 1982, Steve Jobs dealing with the material part. When this one comes to see it to announce to him that it takes the control of the software and that it leaves him the direction of documentation, Jef Raskin answers him

“ Non, you can also deal with documentation, I resign ”. It leaves Apple definitively the first March 1982.

It is then consulting in interface of software: in particular for Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Motorola and Xerox. Raskin conceives the Canon Cat, completed in 1987. He also writes articles for Wired and Mac Home Newspaper.

At the beginning of this century, Raskin supports the realization of The Humane Environment (THE). THE incarnates its design of a man-machine interface, using bricks open source, and completely revolutionist.

Jef Raskin is deceased of a cancer of the Pancréas.

External bonds

Official site of Jef Raskin

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