Today is day 1 of my sabbatical. As I mentioned on Thursday, there will some guest authors on this blog during my absence. As a way of introduction, I thought I would tell you who they are.
Brian Mathews |
Vice President, Autodesk Labs | I have known Brian since July of 1990. I was employee 13 at Ithaca Software after it relocated to Alameda. I had no prior association with the company when it was at Cornell University. As "the new guy," I knew the least about computer graphics and specifically our product HOOPS (Hierarchical Object Oriented Picture System). Brian came on as employee 14. I thought to myself "Great - I will no longer be the new guy." To my dismay, Brian had worked with HOOPS during his years at Cornell. Though no longer the newest employee, I was still the dumbest guy in the room. Many years later our daughter, Stephanie, babysat all of the guests' children at a hotel in Napa for Brian and Lauren's wedding. |
Ben Cochran |
Software Architect, Autodesk Labs | Ben Cochran is the reason I am an Autodesk employee today. While working as a software development manager for Océ Reprographic Technologies on Océ Plan Center, our solution processed DWF files. Ben was our technical contact back to Autodesk regarding DWF files. As I found developing software for a hardware company less fun than developing software for a software company, I asked Ben if Autodesk had any openings. He told me that Brian needed another DWF Technical Evangelist. I subsequently interviewed and got the job. Brian was working for me when he invented DWF. Does anyone remember WHIP!? I was an evangelist for a year before moving on to project manager and then back to software development manager. |
Douglas Look |
Senior Strategic Designer, Autodesk Content Network | Doug Look almost needs no introduction. You've seen him on many of our multitouch videos and other Labs items. When I was a software developer for Ithaca Software in Alameda, I wrote graphics drivers for the DOS and HP Unix platforms. As a platform-independent graphics solution, HOOPS had drivers for everything conceivable, e.g. DOS, Windows, AIX, VAX/VMS, HP-UX, X11, PEX, Apple, Sony, Sun, etc. There were more drivers to be written than we had developers. As such we contracted some of the driver development out. A programmer named Anh Look previously worked for Ithaca Software when it was still in Ithaca, New York with its close association to Cornell University. I worked with Anh on a 3D driver for a Matrox graphics card. In those days, DOS had no standard - a different driver was needed for every device. Years later when Doug returned to Autodesk after getting another degree from the Institute of Design in Chicago, he knew about me from my work with his wife. |
These are 3 of the smartest people I know. Autodesk has many like them. I am looking forward to their posts. Gazing out on the horizon of pending journalistic variety is alive in the lab.