The amazing story of a simple application

This is a great little story. Anyone who had one of the first PowerPC-based Macs (as I did), will remember *Graphing Calculator*  , one of the coolest pieces of geek software around. [The official story,](http://www.pacifict.com/Story/)  told by the lead developer, is an epic tale of the triumph of coolness over adversity, and has a plot worthy of [Office Space.](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/)  Here’s a quote:

Then things got really weird. The QA manager assigned people to test our product. (I didn’t tell him that those people were already working on it.) The localization group assigned people to translate it into twenty languages. The human interface group ran a formal usability study. I was at the center of a whirlwind of activity. Nevertheless, Greg and I still had to sneak into the building. The people in charge of the PowerPC project, upon which the company’s future depended, couldn’t get us badges without a purchase order. They couldn’t get a purchase order without a signed contract. They couldn’t get a contract without approval from Legal, and if Legal heard the truth, we’d be escorted out of the building.

Graphing Calculator is still available, by the way, but it’s not shipped with every Mac anymore.