SK8ing Down the Wrong Path (2019)

Mac Folklore Radio

QuickDraw GX, meet unfinished developer tool prototype.

Original text by Cameron Esfahani who is still at Apple today, ~30 years later.

Chris Espinosa replied to the original: “Cam, with this thread you got maybe 500 people interested in SK8, which is a lot more than Jim Spohrer and I ever did.”

Someone resurrected the SK8 section of www.research.apple.com as it stood in 1997.

Download SK8, the source code, look at a screenshot of it, or read the user guide.

In addressing QuickDraw’s deficiencies by completely uprooting it, QuickDraw GX was naturally a bit of a compatibility nightmare. Like virtual memory and A/UX, you heard about it somewhat frequently through shareware README files, usually followed by “disable it” and/or “you’re out of luck”. Like many things at Apple in the ’90s, it also shipped years behind schedule: “QuickDraw GX will start shipping as an optional part of System 7.5 installs starting in September 1994“.

Note that while three developers personally confronted Steve Jobs about OpenDoc at his famous WWDC 1997 Q&A session, nobody even mentioned QuickDraw GX in passing.

Macworld readers respond to QuickDraw GX.

A Quick Look At QuickDraw GX and another quick look.