Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 239

I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 239. Here are my solutions to them.

1: In eight months I went from thin to fat, and could even gain a plus.

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Macintosh (128K, 512K, and Plus)

In eight months I went from thin to fat (the 128K ‘thin’ Mac was augmented by the 512K ‘fat’ Mac eight months later), and could even gain a plus (official hardware upgrades for the original 128K model could take it to a 512K model or Macintosh Plus, one of the few times Apple has offered such upgrades).

2: Bill and Andy’s swift sketch brought regions and more.

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QuickDraw

Bill (Atkinson) and Andy’s (Hertzfeld, the engineers who initially developed it) swift (quick) sketch (draw) brought regions and more (one of its major innovations was the arbitrary region in graphics).

3: I started with Bannister and Crun, and brought the one-button mouse.

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Jef Raskin

I started with Bannister and Crun (Raskin’s company that first brought him to work for Apple, documenting Apple II Basic), and brought the one-button mouse (it was he who pioneered one rather than three buttons, as well as being the original Macintosh project leader until Steve Jobs took over in 1980-81).

The common factor

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They were all involved in the first Macs forty years ago, launched on 22 January 1984, and shipped two days later.

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.