Interview wtth inventor of hypercard Bill Atkinson

[Richard Gaskin]

Richmond Mathewson write:

 > RunRev did buy Metacard, but not at the start.
 >
 > I believe (this is where Heather can put us ALL straight) RunRev was
 > initially designed as an alternative interface (front-end/GUI) to the
 > MeatCard one.

Heather's asleep, so maybe I can help:

MetaCard premiered in 1992, and by the late '90s Crossworlds Computing 
(Kevin's first company) published a more feature-rich IDE that could run 
with that engine.

Dr. Raney actively encouraged that, and other IDEs like FreeGUI (a 
since-abandoned project to deliver more of a HyperCard-like feel).  He 
wrote the MC IDE for his own needs, and found it a good testament to the 
power of the language that others could serve their own needs by making 
tools and even complete IDEs with relative ease.  He used to say about 
those: "Let a thousand flowers bloom".

Around the turn of the century Kevin arranged a bundling agreement with 
MetaCard Corp.  This may have been about the same time Kevin changed the 
company name to Runtime Revolution Ltd.  During that time one could 
choose to purchase licenses for Revolution from Kevin's company or 
MetaCard from Scott's company, and presumably there was a royalty 
arrangement between them.

In 2003 LiveCode Ltd. acquired the MetaCard engine, and MetaCard ceased 
operations as a seller of the engine. The MetaCard IDE was released as 
open source under the MIT License at that time, so folks could maintain 
and extend it as long as they like.

A few years later Kevin rebranded both the company and the engine to 
become what they're known as today, LiveCode.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com