MacAuthor anyone?

[CharlieFrown]

Hi,
while browsing my father's old Mac software archives from the 80s, I came across a pre-release version of MacAuthor floppy with xerox copied manual (in English).
Has anyone heard of this program? I believe I've read somewhere that initial MacAuthor project became Claris MacWrite in the end, but can't find any evidence at the moment.

 

[cheesestraws]

I think there may have been two pieces of software called MacAuthor. There was a prototype called MacAuthor inside Apple which became MacWrite. This one was never released under this name.

There was another MacAuthor by a company called Icon Technology in the UK. Douglas Adams used this for a while (it's called out in the acknowledgements for the first Dirk Gently book, IIRC). The company moved into the RISC OS market and produced EasiWriter and TechWriter word processors, the latter specifically for technical writing.

 

[Daxeria]

In fact, it seems there were three unrelated MacAuthors in the 1980s:

1. The MacWrite prototype by Encore Systems, c. 1983
2. The Douglas-Adams-endorsed word processor by Icon Technology of Leicester, England, c. 1986
3. The courseware development system by EduDisc of Nashville, Tennessee, c. 1987

It's presumably due to EduDisc's MacAuthor that Icon's was rebranded "LaserAuthor" when it was published in the US.

In any case, no matter which of the three is on your floppy, the software preservation community at Macintosh Garden would hugely appreciate if you were to image the disk and upload it. As far as I know, neither Icon's nor EduDisc's MacAuthor has ever surfaced online in any form, pre-release or not. (Even if the disk is copy-protected, an image created using DiskDup's bad sector tolerance option is likely to be unlocked in short order.)

 

[cheesestraws]

Yes, please do upload it somewhere! I've used Icon's later word processors but I've never met MacAuthor, so I selfishly hope it's that one.

 

[LaPorta]

I love it when people find these long-lost things! We would all love to see it, im sure.