Top Apple Engineers Steven Capps and Walter Smith Join Microsoft’s Internet Division
REDMOND, Wash., June 24, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that Steven Capps and Walter Smith, veterans of the Newton
™
engineering team at Apple Computer Inc., have joined Microsoft’s Internet platform and tools division.
“We consider the addition of Steve and Walter to the team to be a huge win for us in our efforts to broaden the impact of the Internet for customers and developers,”
said Brad Silverberg, senior vice president of the Internet platform and tools division at Microsoft.
“Their experience, energy and enthusiasm will be tremendous assets to our group.”
Steven Capps, one of the original members of the software design team for Apple Computer, has more than 15 years of experience in the software industry. Capps worked for Xerox Corp. in the late 1970s and subsequently joined Apple as a technical staff member for the Lisa® project and later the first version of the Macintosh® . Capps left Apple in 1985 and returned in 1988 as chief developer for the Newton development team.
“While watching the recent PBS series on the origins of the PC industry, I was struck with how the Xerox work from the 1970s is at last becoming pervasive, but it isn’t scaling well to the ’90s,”
Capps said.
“The industry has simply been broadening the desktop metaphor to this new wired world. Microsoft is giving us the opportunity to take a long look at this and rethink basic technologies and interactions for the user, the computer and the Internet.”
Walter Smith was one of the earliest members of the Newton team at Apple. He designed the NewtonScript language and environment and Newton’s object-based data storage system. In addition, he helped design the operating-system kernel, user-interface toolbox and development tools for the Newton.
Capps was named a software architect at Microsoft and Smith was named a senior software design engineer. Both Capps and Smith will be responsible for advanced work on next-generation user interfaces and Internet technologies.
Capps holds a bachelor of science degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Smith holds a bachelor of science degree in applied mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Lisa and Macintosh are registered trademarks and Newton is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc.
