Remembering Jef Raskin

I knew Jef at the time when he was starting the Macintosh project, but I never heard all that much about it from him. He had so many other things to talk about.

I had just started at Apple as a technical writer, and he had just turned the Tech Pubs department over to its new manager, Phyllis Cole. He maintained a strong interest in Apple’s publications, though, and was friendly with all the writers. He’d have us over to his house lunch, or he’d drop by our offices and hang out for a while. He was a very easy guy to get to know.

He was actively interested in so many things! He was a musician, and played a number of different instruments, including a pipe organ that he built himself. He built and flew radio-control model airplanes, and was always trying to figure out ways to incorporate digital logic into them — something that’s now becoming part of the off-the-shelf technology.

Jef loved innovation of every kind. He would show off his sprayed-foam roof to us writers, and his inductive cooktop. He was always writing. He wrote all kinds of stuff — articles about aerodynamics and model airplane design, about human interface issues, humor, travel stories, book reviews, you name it. To meet a large and remarkably diverse mind, check out his web site at

http://jef.raskincenter.org/home/index.html

Don’t miss his article about “Eating B’dang B’dang.” I mean it. And look at some of the other stuff too. It’s all great.