Bill Atkinson, pioneering early Apple engineer, dies at 74

The engineer behind much of the Mac's early graphical user interfaces, QuickDraw, MacPaint, Hypercard and much more, William D. 'Bill' Atkinson, died on June 5 of complications from pancreatic cancer.Steve Jobs and Bill Atkinson (right) worked closely to help bring the Macintosh to life. Image credit - AppleHis family posting the news on a FaceBook post, saying that he passed away at home in Portola Valley, surrounded by family. Atkinson is survived by his wife, two daughters, stepson, stepdaughter, two brothers, four sisters, and his dog, Poppy, according to a message the family posted on FaceBook.Atkinson, who built a post-Apple career as a noted nature photographer, worked at Apple from 1978 to 1990. Among his lasting contributions to Apple's computers were the invention of the menubar, the selection lasso, the 'marching ants' item selection animation, and the discovery of a midpoint circle algorithm that enabled the rapid drawing of circles on-screen. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums