Bill Moggridge dies at 69; developer of laptop design

	Bill Moggridge dies at 69; developer of laptop design Bill Moggridge dies at 69; developer of laptop design Bill Moggridge, a British-born industrial designer and educator who set the standard for laptop design three decades ago when he developed a clamshell case with a hinged lid that folded over the keyboard, died of cancer Saturday in San Francisco. He was 69. His death was announced by the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, which he had directed since 2010. In the late 1970s, when Moggridge left his native London to launch a Silicon Valley design firm, portable computers were more theory than reality. The smallest computer was the size of a sewing machine and about as easy to carry. In 1979 a Silicon Valley entrepreneur named John Ellenby invited Moggridge to help him develop a truly portable computer. The result was the GRiD Compass, a machine that, at eight pounds, was much lighter than desktop models. Its most ingenious feature was its hinged construction, which allowed the computer to be folded up inside a briefcase. The price tag exceeded $8000, beyond the reach of the average consumer. But it was adopted by government agencies such as NASA, which in 1983 put the Compass on the first of many space shuttle missions. Moggridge's influence extended beyond the aesthetics of laptops. He founded a field he called interaction design, which emphasizes the centrality of human experience in developing computer software and hardware. "I don't think Bill ever found a technology he was not fascinated <b>...</b>	From: jeeveypak Views: 0 0 ratings
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