Tuesday, 11 September 2012 09:35

Rest in peace Bill Moggridge

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The designer of the laptop as we know it, Bill Moggridge, passed away this last weekend at the age of 69. Morrgridge was one of the pioneers of industrial design that created the first laptop for Grid Systems, a startup firm. The first model that is also considered the first laptop ever the Grid Compass was his baby. At only 12 pounds weight it was a breakthrough for the current “mobile” solutions that were averaging at 26 pounds. It featured a folding display and it was used by NASA and the military. The price was $8,150, which was quite a lot back in 1982.

His Grid Compass with a magnesium case even made it into space; it was used on the Space Shuttle Discovery. A lot has changed since then as laptops are now almost completely consumer devices. New models are shrinking more and more every year, but the main idea of the foldable display has remained, that makes Moggridge a true design genius. He won the Prince Phillip Designers Prize, the oldest design award in the UK, was named Royal Designer for industry and won the 2009 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement.
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He died from cancer on September 8th, still employed as the director of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The Museum stated that Bill enhanced their profile as one of the world's leading authorities on the integral role of design in daily life. He was also the author of two books, Designing Media and Designing Interactions, both published by MIT. The world will forever be grateful for your work, rest in peace Mr. Laptop.

[Ed – Bill Moggridge is one of the people that we can say truly changed the world of computing. His concept has lived on even in the designs of today. He will be missed.]

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Read 2928 times Last modified on Tuesday, 11 September 2012 09:41

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