John Buck on the Invention of QuickTime

Apple engineers Steve Perlman and Gavin Miller challenged the industry assumption that multimedia required expensive specialized hardware by developing software-based video compression technology during a casual lunchtime walk in 1990. When Apple executive Casey announced QuickTime at the 1991 Worldwide Developers Conference, promising real-time software compression for Macintosh systems, the development team was stunned since the project had no budget, staff, or offices at the time. Despite the premature announcement, Apple successfully delivered QuickTime by the following year's conference.