Being an app developer isn't at all like working at Apple. There is this huge haystack of apps, and even a very shiny needle can get lost in that haystack.

I have realized over time that I missed the mark with HyperCard. I grew up in a box-centric culture at Apple. If I'd grown up in a network-centric culture, like Sun, HyperCard might have been the first Web browser. My blind spot at Apple prevented me from making HyperCard the first Web browser.

A company shouldn't get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn't last.

With a 100-year perspective, the real value of the personal computer is not spreadsheets, word processors or even desktop publishing. It's the Web.

It's a bit disconcerting being treated like Madonna.

You could summarize everything I did at Apple was making tools to empower creative people. 'QuickDraw' empowered all these other programmers to now be able to sling stuff on the screen. The 'Window Manager,' 'Event Manager,' and 'Menu Manager.' Those are things that I worked on that were empowering other people.