Bill Atkinson worked at Apple Computer. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego, where Apple Macintosh visionary Jef Raskin was one of his professors. He designed and programmed HyperCard, the first popular hypertext system. Atkinson was also part of the Apple Macintosh development team and was key in the development of the MacPaint application, among others. Atkinson also designed and implemented QuickDraw, the fundamental toolbox that the Macintosh used for graphics. QuickDraw's performance was essential for the Macintosh's Graphical user interface's success.

As of 2002, he was involved full-time in fine-art digital nature photography.