Seth Godin argues that the Mac’s success came not from the legendary 1984 Super Bowl ad but from the “unreasonable standards” of designers like Susan Kare and programmers like Bill Atkinson—a timely reminder as criticism of macOS 26 Tahoe’s design choices mounts.

Apple legend Bill Atkinson has passed away at 74 from pancreatic cancer. His development of QuickDraw, MacPaint, and HyperCard influenced everything from Photoshop to the World Wide Web and directly contributed to the creation of TidBITS.

Bill Atkinson, one of the key figures beyind the Macintosh and the developer of HyperCard, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Keep him in your thoughts.

MacPaint shipped with the Macintosh in 1984 and is the mother of all modern graphics programs. If you miss those days, or never got a chance to experience MacPaint for yourself, developer Martin Braun has adapted it for the Web. CloudPaint replicates both the features and interface of the original, which was developed by Bill Atkinson and Susan Kare and open-sourced in 2010.