Bill Atkinson

Bill Atkinson, a former computer engineer who pioneered the visual interfaces used on early Macintosh computers, which in turn revolutionized the home computer industry and helped put the devices in homes all across the world, died June 5, 2025, of pancreatic cancer at his home in Portola Valley, California at the age of 74.

Before Atkinson helped create the software that allowed the average user to work on a computer using a simple graphical interface, navigating a computer system involved working through a seemingly byzantine labyrinth of text prompts and code. Specifically, he created QuickDraw, a bundle of small programs that allowed computers to display shapes and images. This approach showed pixel drawings of folders rather than lines of text indicating the location of a file, for example, and the advance allowed the average person to be able to operate a computer system. QuickDraw set the stage for Macintosh home computers, and the idea of a graphical user interface, or GUI, soon spread to almost every system that followed. He also developed the drawing program MacPaint, as well as HyperCard, another kind of interface that merged graphics, text, and more, which served as a forerunner to the World Wide Web that is now the backbone of the Internet. Atkinson was recognized with an EFF Pioneer Award in 1994 for his work.

Former Apple engineer Greg Stikeleather said his old colleague's "ripple of creative contributions likely have impacted billions of people." He wrote of Atkinson on Facebook: "During the early days of Apple, many talented people were focused on creating a new graphical user interface to make work and play much easier for users. I remember some long 5 AM conversations with Bill after we pulled all-nighters at Apple back then. Bill's contributions were foundational … Bill's curiosity, caring, and creativity were legendary. His impact will continue on."

By Eric San Juan

(Image: Michel BARET/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)