'The Oxford Companion to the Book' Excerpt - WSJ.com

"These experiments culminated in the development of HyperCard at Apple Computer by Bill Atkinson in 1987. Apple released this software as freeware on its new Macintosh computer. Content creators immediately embraced the program's promise. Although many early works were no doubt lost, one has long endured. In 1988, Brian Thomas, along with Philip A. Mohr, Jr., released If Monks Had Macs . . . from their company, riverText. It was first published as a collection of games and serious ideas constructed in HyperCard using the pre-print metaphor of a *monastic library, complete with music and the sound of a cloister's fountain. It came on 800K diskettes as Macintosh freeware, thus establishing an early precedent that would resonate in the later open-access movement. It also included what Thomas said 'might be called the first real or widely read e-book'..."