On April 11, 1997, Christopher Alexander wrote to Sun Microsystems' co-founder Bill Joy, who had provided funds for an experimental project codenamed Gatemaker. Alexander wanted Joy to understand that Gatemaker's implications for computing and design were extremely serious. Note: he refers to an earlier memo which can be found here. A video demonstration and explanation of gatemaker can be found here. A detailed explanation and timeline of this project can be found here. A contemporary account can be found here.