Bill Atkinson (1951-2025)

Bill Atkinson (1951-2025)

Author: Derek May 21, 2026 Duration: 44:28

Original text from The Complete HyperCard Handbook (Expanded 2nd Edition with HyperCard 1.2 supplement!!!)

Open HyperCard Stacks with just 512K RAM via HyperDA.

If copying HyperCard was such an obvious idea, where did all the AmigaVision productions go? What happened to all the Asymmetrix Toolbook-ware?

David Greelish “Before Macintosh” interviews with Bill Atkinson: Parts 1, 2, 3

Make beautiful Atkinson-dithered images with HyperDither, GraphicConverter (Effects => Dithering => Atkinson) or in your browser with DitherIt! More than you could ever possibly want to read about dithering and an undergrad lecture on Floyd-Steinberg dithering.

Bill Atkinson’s Rolodex, a.k.a. Casady & Greene QuickDEX (v1.4, II).

Bill Atkinson’s 10 Rules for Making Interfaces More Human

Quotes from:

R.I.P. uliwitness, a.k.a. Uli Kusterer, longtime Macintosh programmer and HyperCard enthusiast. We will miss you too.

Fun fact: I recognized Uli’s name when it popped up in the podcast Discord. Back in the late 1990s a friend and I used “Uli’s Panes” as the playlist interface for a classic MacOS MOD player. Remember Uli, HyperCard and Bill with:

Uli’s Moose, an updated version of The Talking Moose for classic MacOS. Uli told me he tried to submit a new version of Mac OS X to the App Store but it was rejected several times and he eventually gave up. Thanks, Apple!


Derek hosts Mac Folklore Radio, a podcast that serves as a warm, nostalgic conversation about the machines that defined personal computing for a generation. This isn't a dry technical history, but rather a collection of stories, memories, and shared experiences centered on the Macintosh ecosystem from its early beige-box days through the colorful iMac era and beyond. Each episode feels like digging through a box of old software manuals and rediscovering the community, the quirks, and the sheer sense of possibility those computers inspired. You'll hear tales of first setups, beloved and baffling peripherals, the games that consumed hours, and the software that felt like magic. It's crafted specifically for those who lived through it-the users, tinkerers, and enthusiasts who remember the hum of a CRT and the distinct scent of a warm motherboard. Tune in for a dose of genuine, fond reminiscence that functions as comfort food for the Apple-centric soul, preserving the personal side of tech history one story at a time. This podcast is a love letter to the culture built around these machines, celebrating the folklore that official manuals never recorded.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Mac Folklore Radio
Podcast Episodes
MFR Housekeeping, Spring 2026 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:49
Order David Pogue’s “Apple: The First 50 Years”. Watch the livestreamed Apple 50th event at the Computer History Museum.
KON and BAL's Puzzle Page II (1992, 1993) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:53
Original text by Konstantin Othmer and Bruce Leak for Apple’s develop! magazine, December 1992, March 1993, and June 1993. Apple’s MicroBug documentation: Technote TN1136. Running MacsBug on an alternate monitor: “Using…
Frank Casanova Interview - Maclopedia (1996) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:19
Original text from Maclopedia. While I wasn’t looking, Frank Casanova parted ways with Apple in 2024. Whoops. John Buck’s book on Apple’s Advanced Technology Group, Inventing the Future, is worth your while. John is also…
Steve Hayman - Great Idea (2025) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 6:32
Original text by Steve Hayman. NeXT Mail clips from the NeXT launch event in Tokyo and the NeXTSTEP Release 3.0 demo VHS tape.
Jecel on the Unitron 512 Macintosh Clone (1998) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:32
Original text by Jecel Mattos de Assumpçao Jr, 1998. Rainer Brockerhoff, who also participated in the Unitron 512 project, provides additional background at Low End Mac. More about Brazil’s reserved market policy, a.k.a.…
Power 100 Review and Mac OS Clone Commentary (1995) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:23
Original text by Tim Warner, Macworld, August 1995. Additional clone cancellation fallout information from Macworld, October 1997. Original Power Computing magazine ad. Clearly the Mac OS clone program failed due to the…
KON and BAL's Puzzle Page (1992, 1994) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:31
Original text by Konstantin Othmer and Bruce Leak for Apple’s develop! magazine, May 1992 and June 1994. “These problems are supposed to be tough. If you don’t get a high score, at least you’ll learn interesting Macintos…
Glider 4.0 Reviews (1991) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:48
Game Hall of Fame text by Steven Levy, Macworld January 1992. Review of Glider 4.0 by Toni Thompson, Macworld February 1992. I wonder if that’s the Toni Thompson who did the graphics for the Apple II version of Temple of…
The Desktop Critic Secret Reviewer's Notebook (1996) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:49
Original text by David Pogue, Macworld June 1996. The database review mentioned in this article might be one of these two. Review of the hilariously terrible Brother HL-8 printer and two (yes, two) attempts at Macintosh…
John Calhoun on Casady and Greene (2024) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:35
Original text by John Calhoun. MacScene’s interview with John re: The History of Glider. Part 1, Part 2. Mr. Advisador for the Newton has been revived! Told you it was creepy. Original Newton version. The Computer Chroni…