I've read Jef's version of the stories at his site (and an interesting surprise appearance in the middle of a Slashdot thread!), and I found this funny with little stretch of the imagination. He really does sound rather bitter no-one gives him any credit for inventing the Mac. Or the web. Ten-to-one, when the media were claiming Al Gore said he invented the Internet, Jef probably replied to the TV "No, *I* did!"

For a well-documented view of why the history of the Mac, and other histories, are so often wrong, please see "Holes in the Histories" on my web site; www.jefraskin.com. I never claimed to have invented the web. I did write a document in 1979 that pretty accurately predicted what it would be used for. You may check it out for yourself either on Stanford University's History of Technology site. It is also reproduced as an appendix to the "Holes in the Histories" article. One of the problems with these stories and many claims and counterclaims is that most contributors don't have any documentation or do any research. So if Mr. Gruber thinks it funny to characterize me as having said the I invented the web, then I would find it amusing to see his basis for making that remark. One thing that Andy might have missed is that very often I actually had invented things that others also came up with. For example, I suspect (he can correct me if I'm wrong) that he did not know that in 1965-1966 I had developed a graphic input device (reference in my CV) that you could point with and which had one button. A description and photo were published. I had programmed a general-purpose graphics system called "Quick Draw" and Bill Atkinson had taken classes from me in which he learned about it in detail. It was part of the inspiration of Apple's Quick Draw graphics that Bill brilliantly implemented. Again, my work was published, and anybody who wants to see if I really had programmed a graphics system called "Quick Draw" in the late 60s can check it out. There are lots of other examples, but I doubt if I claimed to have done something I did not do. Now, if we were to discuss the Reality Distortion Field's pronouncements... :-)

I wish I had taken the opportunity to apologize to Jef before he passed away. I didn't mean to offend him. It's a shame to see him go. http://www.courteousminer.com/wp/?p=346

Given Raskin's passion for ZUI, one might say he invented the iPhone.