MacPaint Interview and Demonstration, with Bill Atkinson and Andy Herzfeld

Interviewed by Aimee Gardner and Al Kossow on May 6, 2010, in Mountain View, California, X5818.2010

© Computer History Museum

The Apple Macintosh combined brilliant design in hardware and in software.The drawing program MacPaint, which was released with the computer in January of 1984, was an example of that brilliance both in what it did, and in how it was implemented.
MacPaint was written by Bill Atkinson, who was a member of the original Macintosh development team. He based it on his earlier LisaSketch (also called SketchPad) for the unsuccessful Apple Lisa computer, so he originally called it MacSketch. He started work on the Mac version in early 1983.

Atkinson also created Quickdraw first for the Lisa, as LisaGraf. Andy Hertzfeld, another key member of the team, considers QuickDraw "the single most significant component of the original Macintosh technology" in its ability to "push pixels around in the frame buffer at blinding speeds to create the celebrated user interface."

* Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - http://www.computerhistory.org/collec...

Visit computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/ for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral History Collection.