Original Mac Designers Gather at MacWorld

The gathering was hosted by New York Times technology columnist David Pogue, who draped a chair with a black turtleneck and jeans. The ensemble is a common outfit for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs, who was boycotting the show. Pogue said, "Please welcome Steve Jobs' spirit."

The morning panel session gave the designers an opportunity to talk about the early days of the Macintosh, and outline the type of contributions they made.

Jobs in Their Jobs

The ex-Apple developers made a number of notable comments. Raskin said that -- contrary to Jobs' claims -- it was Raskin that is truly the father of the Macintosh, a project he claims dates back to his work in the 1960s. Raskin noted that Jobs was involved in the project later, when he left the Lisa project.

Raskin added that Jobs did not understand user interfaces, but that he took packaging very seriously. The result, in Raskin's opinion, is that Apple has moved in a direction that he finds objectionable. "The Mac has gone from insanely great to insanely gross," he said.

Others on the panel did not display the same level of vitriol, although Hertfeld did note Jobs was a terror. To soften such a comment, he added, "[B]ut he was incredibly great."

Waxing Nostalgic and Advisory

With the Jobs comments out of their systems, the designers began chatting about the Mac's 20th anniversary, the panel's main focus.

The conversation took a nostalgic turn as Atkinson, a principal designer of the Mac interface as well as MacPaint and HyperCard, remembered the machine's early versions.

He also pondered what would have happened if Apple had licensed the Mac OS, or accepted overtures from Bill Gates. "It wouldn't have been Mac any more," he noted, because the Mac is so reliant on hardware, software, design and integration in combination. But, he admitted, "[W]ho knows what would have happened."

Although none of the panel's members are still active with Apple, they did express the hope that the company continues and thrives.

In Development

This year, with a planned absence at MacWorld, Apple chose to focus its attention instead on the recent WWDC, its annual developer conference.

Although there were no panels similar to those put on by Pogue, the company's conference shows that Apple is just as keen to woo developers in the future as it was in the past.

Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations, told MacNewsWorld: "The WWDC is just gigantic for us," he said. "We get the chance to connect with our entire engineering community through sessions and one-on-one talks."

Much like MacWorld, the WWDC has exhibits and evening activities, but the crowd is less consumer-focused and closer to the type of people that would enjoy hanging out with Atkinson, Hertzfeld, Manock and Raskin.

Good Vibrations

This year's MacWorld has seen its share of controversy, as a result of Jobs' boycott and the loss of other vendors. Despite that, the show floor has "good energy," said Glen Turpin, corporate communications director for Quark , in an interview with MacNewsWorld.

As an indication of this, Pogue's creation of a phantom Steve Jobs drew more laughter and applause than grumbles about the executive's absence.

Turpin noted that it is a smaller show than in past years, but the exhibit floor is still crowded and there seem to be many happy attendees in the hallways and at the booths. Despite the lower number of vendors, Turpin also noted that there's strong interest in the products that are being showcased, including those of Quark and its exhibit neighbor, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) .

"It's just a really positive place to be," he said. "There's really good energy."