Bill Atkinson has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#61

Post by melling » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:49 PM UTC

andoando wrote: post #21

dakiol wrote: post #15

RIP. It still suprises me that people with resources die so early (he died at 74).

I wouldnt consider 74 early.

It is early.

“A 60-year-old male in the US can expect to live until about age 82”

Pancreatic cancer usually is hard to detect until it’s reached an advanced stage. We really should invest more into research

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#62

Post by IncreasePosts » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:53 PM UTC

dakiol wrote: post #15

RIP. It still suprises me that people with resources die so early (he died at 74).

Unless you're getting preventative screenings frequently, pancreatic cancer can be one of those ones that don't show any symptoms til you're already in stage 4. And most normal doctors will tell you to not do large amounts of preventative screenings.

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#63

Post by monster_truck » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:55 PM UTC

dakiol wrote: post #15

RIP. It still suprises me that people with resources die so early (he died at 74).

There isn't an amount of resources in the world that will protect you from cancer, despite what some claim. Like my grandma said, "it is your reward for surviving absolutely everything else that could have got you" (she beat 3 different kinds of cancer before losing to a 4th, with 'resources')

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#64

Post by 1123581321 » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:56 PM UTC

jajko wrote: post #46

dkislyuk wrote: post #16

From Walter Isaacson's _Steve Jobs_: > One of Bill Atkinson’s amazing feats (which we are so accustomed to nowadays that we rarely marvel at it) was to allow the windows on a screen to overlap so that the “top” one clipped into the ones “below” it. Atkinson made it possible to move these windows around, just like shuffling papers on a desk, with those below becoming visible or hidden as you moved the top ones. Of cou…

Pretty awesome story, but also with a bit of dark lining. Of course any owner, and triple that for Jobs, loves over-competent guys who work themselves to the death, here almost literally. But that's not a recipe for personal happiness for most people, and most of us would not end up contributing revolutionary improvements even if done so. World needs awesome workers, and we also need ie awesome parents or just happy…

Pretty much. Most of us have creative itches to scratch that make us a bit miserable if we never get to pursue them, even if given a comfortable life. It’s circumstantial whether we get to pursue them as entrepreneurs or employees. The users or enjoyers of our work benefit either way.

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#65

Post by davisr » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:57 PM UTC

I first met Bill over video-chat during 2020 and we got to know each other a bit. He later sent me a gift that changed my life. We hadn't talked for the past couple years, but I know he experienced "death" before and was as psychologically prepared as anyone could be. I have no doubt that he handled the biggest trip of his life with grace. We didn't always see eye-to-eye when it came to software, but we did share a mutual interest in the unknown, and the meaning of it all. Meet ya on the other side, Bill.

Re: Bill Atkinson has died

#66

Post by lambdaone » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:57 PM UTC

asveikau wrote: post #19

matthewn wrote: post #13

In an alternate timeline, HyperCard was not allowed to wither and die, but instead continued to mature, embraced the web, and inspired an entire genre of software-creating software. In this timeline, people shape their computing experiences as easily as one might sculpt a piece of clay, creating personal apps that make perfect sense to them and fit like a glove; computing devices actually become (for everyone, not ju…

Maybe there's some sense of longing for a tool that's similar today, but there's no way of knowing how much hypercard did have the impact you are talking about. For example many of us reading here experienced HyperCard. It planted seeds in our future endeavors. I remember in elementary school, I had some computer lab classes where the whole class worked in hypercard on some task. Multiply that by however many classro…

HyperCard was undoubtedly the inspiration for Visual Basic, which for quite some time dominated the bespoke UI industry in the same way web frameworks do today.