I know all the principals personally, and I have to say the article is accurate. Jef Raskin really did create the Macintosh, and once its promise was obvious, Steve Jobs took it away from him.

I have always thought of Steve Jobs as a visionary, not a designer, and this story supports that view. Steve Jobs is really good at many things, but designing things isn't one of them.

Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I, II and played a small part in III. I wrote a little software (Apple Writer, for example). Jef Raskin designed the Macintosh. Steve Jobs sold the public on the idea of a personal computer. In 100 years, I think Steve Jobs' role will be seen as very important, and the fact that he didn't design anything will be put in perspective.

Jef died a few years ago, of pancreatic cancer, ironically enough something that Steve Jobs also has struggled with.

One of my favorite Jef stories was about his early design for an electric car. Jef filled the trunk and back seat with ordinary batteries, and replaced the engine with an electric motor. Everything went fine until he had to go downhill -- because of the batteries, the car was way too heavy for the brakes. By quick steering Jef got to the bottom of the hill all right, but it wasn't anyone's idea of a controlled descent.

EDIT: corrected a factual error.