The Autodesk file
by John Walker · first published 1989
15mentions
10recommended by
14HN commenters
2011–2026first – last mentioned
71% recommend29% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Behind-the-scenes history of early Autodesk, built from actual memos, business documents and chronological records, not a founder's retrospective. Valued by founders and developers curious how a software company began.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…business plan for Illustrator, Adobe Systems’ first consumer product. But you never get to see the business plans of super successful products -- that's what I'd like to see. The one exception is "The Autodesk File" by Autodesk founder John Walker: http://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/autoframe.html It has the genuine documents from Autodesk's early years including business plans, finances, stock discussions,…
on “Why big companies can’t change” ↗I had forgotten about John Walker's site since last time I spent hours reading The Autodesk File...a great look at the inside history of a startup.
on “The S-Lang Language” ↗John Walker's The Autodesk File is definitely worth reading. https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/ has the book available in several formats.
on “Ask HN: Any good case studies of companies for entrepreneurs?” ↗Good counter on John Walker's "The Autodesk File" https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/
on “History of CAD” ↗John Walker passed away last year. His “Autodesk File” is an interesting read because it’s not the usual “just so” kind of startup memoir that tries to explain how success was preordained by the founder’s genius, but instead a collection of actual documents…
on “Autodesk's John Walker Explained HP and IBM in 1991 (2015)” ↗…worst corp. in the world of software", but in the early years they were very interesting. The founder of Autodesk, John Walker (he died in 2024) wrote/edited and interesting book on the early years: "The Autodesk File" https://fourmilab.ch/autofile/
on “Open source CAD in the browser (Solvespace)” ↗While you're on fourmilab site, I recommend The Autodesk File ebook: https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/ A story about how Autodesk started. If I recall correctly (read it 15+ years ago), a bunch of programmers got together, without clear idea what they'll build.…
on “The Hacker's Diet” ↗In the spirit of xanadu, would you mind posting a link? In searching your keywords, I did come across a font of wisdom in the form of "The Autodesk File: Bits of History, Words of Experience" which contains some chapters on Xanadu and Autodesk's relationship and acquisition - which I've managed to be wholly unaware of despite being a xanadu enthusiast…
on “The Pattern Language of Project Xanadu” ↗"Sweating Bullets", "Almost Perfect" (http://www.wordplace.com/ap/), "The Autodesk File" (https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/e5/) and "Show Stopper!" were a few books that I think pair very well, and as a developer who wasn't around in the time really gave interesting and comparable insights…
on “Dennis Austin, the software developer of PowerPoint, dies at 76” ↗…days computer magazines would print website reviews and links, and I found HotBits in one of those. It was fascinating to a young kid who was into computers and physics. Over a decade later I read the Autodesk File and it was a major inspiration for founding my first startup. He was an inspiration to generations of hackers.
on “John Walker, founder of Autodesk, has died” ↗John Walker's The Autodesk File has his original strategy paper on this topic: https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/chapter2_35.html "Lisp?!?! Why the Hell did you pick the most arcane, obscure, and hopelessly-rooted-in-the-computer-science-department…
on “Antimony – A fresh look at CAD software” ↗Oh I'm sure it's a hell of a lot more than 100 years of work! Especially if you count all the third party developers. Here's John Walker's history of Autodesk: https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/ The Autodesk File: Bits of History, Words of Experience The Autodesk File chronicles the history of Autodesk, Inc. and its principal product, AutoCAD, through contemporary documents edited and annotated by Autodesk founder…
on “Autodesk criticised by architects” ↗…though it was more like 25 years. If someone asked me "who is your hero", I would answer John Walker. To be honest, I didn't know all that much about him beyond The Hacker's Diet, his own autobiography/Autodesk File, and the stuff on his web site circa 15-20 years ago. But the things I did know seemed admirable: * He was an engineer's engineer, and when his company became successful, the impression I got was that…
on “John Walker, founder of Autodesk, has died” ↗Have you read the Autodesk File [1]? By a founder and the co-creator of the famous software. I've heard it can't be hosted in the US for legal reasons. [1] https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/autofile.html
on “The Untold History of Arduino” ↗The fourth edition of Autodesk File that this leads into was published in 1994.
on “The Deal on the Table (1994)” ↗