Neil Konzen

Last updated

Neil Konzen is a computer programmer who formerly worked for Microsoft as one of its earliest employees. He was the systems programmer of Microsoft's Macintosh programs projects, [1] including Multiplan and Word for the Mac in 1984. He was later tasked with leading the team that created the second version of Windows at Microsoft, after the failure of the original version. [1]

Konzen is also known for creating, with Bill Gates, the DONKEY.BAS game for the IBM PC. [2] [3]

Konzen also worked in the Ferrari F1 Racing Team around the Todt-Brawn-Schumacher era, when software development still was a major competitive advantage for the top teams. He created Vehicle Dynamics Simulation (VDS) software that could run real-time simulations at the home factory and at the track-side, during the race weekend, on the limited computational power of Personal Computers available back then. The software included features that became available on commercial software for PCs, like MATLAB, only many years later. He was also instrumental in the implementation of the real-time telemetry and contributed to other software developed in the Ferrari F1 Racing Team.

Prior to his work at Microsoft, Konzen created the popular G.P.L.E. (Global Program Line Editor) for writing Applesoft programs on the Apple II.

Not working for Microsoft, but still in Washington, he currently resides in Bellevue, Washington.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<i>Microsoft Flight Simulator</i> Windows-based flight simulator software

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for MS-DOS, Classic Mac OS and Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was an early product in the Microsoft application portfolio and differed significantly from Microsoft's other software, which was largely business-oriented. As of November 2022, Microsoft Flight Simulator is the longest-running software product line for Microsoft, predating Windows by three years. Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the longest-running PC video game series of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MacPaint</span> Graphics editing software by Apple Computer

MacPaint is a raster graphics editor developed by Apple Computer and released with the original Macintosh personal computer on January 24, 1984. It was sold separately for US$195 with its word processing counterpart, MacWrite. MacPaint was notable because it could generate graphics that could be used by other applications. It taught consumers what a graphics-based system could do by using the mouse, the clipboard, and QuickDraw picture language. Pictures could be cut from MacPaint and pasted into MacWrite documents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Hertzfeld</span> American software engineer and innovator (born 1953)

Andrew Jay Hertzfeld is an American software engineer and innovator who was a member of the original Apple Macintosh development team during the 1980s. After buying an Apple II in January 1978, he went to work for Apple Computer from August 1979 until March 1984, where he was a designer for the Macintosh system software. Since leaving Apple, he has co-founded three companies: Radius in 1986, General Magic in 1990, and Eazel in 1999. In 2002, he helped Mitch Kapor promote open source software with the Open Source Applications Foundation. Hertzfeld worked at Google from 2005 to 2013, where in 2011, he was the key designer of the Circles user interface in Google+.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Cooper</span> American computer programmer

Alan Cooper is an American software designer and programmer. Widely recognized as the "Father of Visual Basic", Cooper is also known for his books About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design and The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity. As founder of Cooper, a leading interaction design consultancy, he created the Goal-Directed design methodology and pioneered the use of personas as practical interaction design tools to create high-tech products. On April 28, 2017, Alan was inducted into the Computer History Museum's Hall of Fellows "for his invention of the visual development environment in Visual BASIC, and for his pioneering work in establishing the field of interaction design and its fundamental tools."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macintosh 128K</span> Original Macintosh Computer introduced by Apple Computer in 1984

The Apple Macintosh—later rebranded as the Macintosh 128K—is the original Apple Macintosh personal computer. It played a pivotal role in establishing desktop publishing as a general office function. The motherboard, a 9 in (23 cm) CRT monitor, and a floppy drive were housed in a beige case with integrated carrying handle; it came with a keyboard and single-button mouse. It sold for US$2,495. The Macintosh was introduced by a television commercial entitled "1984" shown during Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984 and directed by Ridley Scott. Sales of the Macintosh were strong at its initial release on January 24, 1984, and reached 70,000 units on May 3, 1984. Upon the release of its successor, the Macintosh 512K, it was rebranded as the Macintosh 128K. The computer's model number was M0001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Simonyi</span> Hungarian-American software architect

Charles Simonyi is a Hungarian-American software architect. He started and led Microsoft's applications group, where he built the first versions of Microsoft Office.

Darin Adler is a senior engineering manager for Apple and a frequent speaker at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference and Stump the Experts panelist.

<i>Flight Unlimited</i> 1995 aerobatic flight simulator video game

Flight Unlimited is a 1995 aerobatic flight simulator video game developed and published by LookingGlass Technologies. It allows players to pilot reproductions of real-world aircraft and to perform aerobatic maneuvers. They may fly freely, race through floating rings against a timer or take lessons from a virtual flight instructor. The instructor teaches basic and advanced techniques, ranging from rudder turns to maneuvers such as the tailslide, Lomcovák and Immelmann turn.

Donkey, often known by its filename DONKEY.BAS, is a video game written in 1981, and included with early versions of the IBM PC DOS operating system distributed with the original IBM PC. It is a top-down driving game in which the player must avoid hitting donkeys. The game was written by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and early employee Neil Konzen.

Robert Carr is credited as the architect of GO Corporation's PenPoint OS. He subsequently served as Vice President of the AutoCAD Market Group at Autodesk, Inc., where he led Internet work, managed 330 staff and was responsible for its flagship product, AutoCAD. He also created the Framework integrated office suite.

General Magic was an American software and electronics company co-founded by Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfeld, and Marc Porat. Based in Mountain View, California, the company developed precursors to "USB, software modems, small touchscreens, touchscreen controller ICs, ASICs, multimedia email, networked games, streaming TV, and early e-commerce notions." General Magic's main product was Magic Cap, the operating system used in 1994 by the Motorola Envoy and Sony's Magic Link PDA. It also introduced the programming language Telescript. After announcing it would cease operations in 2002, it was liquidated in 2004 with Paul Allen purchasing most of its patents.

Steve Capps is a pioneering American computer programmer and software engineer, who was one of the original designers of the Apple Macintosh computer and co-designers of the Finder in the 1980s. He also led development of the Apple Newton PDA and designed music software such as SoundEdit, before developing user interface (UI) designs for Microsoft's Internet Explorer and online/mobile payment systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thrustmaster</span> American video game peripheral manufacturer

Thrustmaster is an American designer, developer and manufacturer of joysticks, game controllers, and steering wheels for PCs and video gaming consoles. It has licensing agreements with third party brands as Airbus, Boeing, Ferrari, Gran Turismo and U.S. Air Force as well as licensing some products under Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox licenses.

Andrew Glaister is a video game programmer.

Ever since Pole Position in 1982, Formula One (F1) has always played a part of the racing genre in video games. Early Formula One games were typically arcade racing games, before Formula One Grand Prix (1991) popularized Formula One racing simulations on home computers.

Macintosh Basic, or MacBASIC, was both a comprehensive programming language and a fully interactive development environment designed by Apple Computer for the original Macintosh computer. It was developed by original Macintosh team member Donn Denman, with help from fellow Apple programmers Marianne Hsiung, Larry Kenyon, and Bryan Stearns, as part of the original Macintosh development effort starting in late 1981. Andy Hertzfeld said, "A BASIC interpreter would be important, to allow users to write their own programs. We decided we should write it ourselves, instead of relying on a third party, because it was important for the BASIC programs to be able to take advantage of the Macintosh UI, and we didn't trust a third party to 'get it' enough to do it right."

<i>Revolution in the Valley</i> 2004 book by Andy Hertzfeld

Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made is a nonfiction book written by Andy Hertzfeld about the birth of the Apple Macintosh personal computer. The author was a core member of the team that built the Macintosh system software and the chief creator of the Mac's radical new user interface software. The book is a collection of anecdotes tracing the development of the Macintosh from a secret project in 1979 through its "triumphant introduction" in 1984. These anecdotes were originally published on the author's Folklore.org web site.

<i>The Innovators</i> (book) 2014 book by Walter Isaacson

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution is an overview of the history of computer science and the Digital Revolution. It was written by Walter Isaacson, and published in 2014 by Simon & Schuster.

Chaos engineering is the discipline of experimenting on a system in order to build confidence in the system's capability to withstand turbulent conditions in production.

<i>rFpro</i> Driving simulation software

rFpro, originally rFactor Pro, is a driving simulation software used by racing teams and car manufacturers for advanced driver-assistance systems, self-driving cars and vehicle dynamics. rFactor Pro was created in 2007 as a project of a F1 racing team, using Image Space Incorporated's rFactor as a codebase. It has since been used by more F1 racing teams, top road car OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and motorsport manufacturers. It was originally developed for driver-in-the-Loop simulations, but has since been used for autonomous vehicle training as well. It is not licensed to consumers.

References

  1. 1 2 Andy Hertzfeld (2004). "A Rich Neighbor Named Xerox". folklore.org. Retrieved 2006-09-16.
  2. Andy Hertzfeld (2004). "Donkey". folklore.org. Archived from the original on 2006-09-01. Retrieved 2006-09-16.
  3. Gates, Bill. "Bill Gates Interview". Computer History Collection (Transcript). Interviewed by David Allison. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved April 10, 2013.