Mike Harrington

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mike Harrington
Harrington in 2009
Employer(s)Dynamix (1985–1987)
Microsoft (1987–1996)
Valve (1996–2000)
Picnik (2005–2010)
Google (2010–2011)
Catnip Labs (2012–2015)
Committee for Children (2016-2018)
Amplion (2018-present)
Known forCo-founding Valve

Mike Harrington is an American computer programmer. He is the co-founder of the video game development and digital distribution company Valve.[1] Previously a game programmer at Dynamix and a designer on the Windows NT operating system at Microsoft,[2] Harrington founded Valve in 1996 with Gabe Newell, another former Microsoft employee. He and Newell privately funded the development of Half-Life, which he also helped program.[1][3]

On January 15, 2000, after the success of Half-Life, Harrington dissolved his partnership with Newell and left Valve to spend time with his wife.[1] "At Microsoft you always wonder, 'Is it me being successful or is it Microsoft?' But with Half-Life I knew Gabe and I had built that product and company from scratch."[1] According to Newell, Harrington did not want to risk another project after the success of Half-Life.[1]

In 2006, Harrington co-founded Picnik with friend and former colleague Darrin Massena, which was later acquired by Google in March 2010. Harrington left Google in March 2011, and co-founded another company with Massena, called Catnip Labs, in January 2012. Harrington was the CTO at The Committee for Children from 2016-2018 and is now the CTO of Amplion.[4][5]

References[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Keighley, Geoff. "The Final Hours of Half-Life and Half Life 2". Gamespot UK. Archived from the original on 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2008-01-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. "Mike Harrington Interview". PlanetHalfLife.com. November 20, 1999. Archived from the original on November 3, 1999. Retrieved 2008-01-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. CVG Staff (28 September 2007). "Creative Minds: Gabe Newell". computerandvideogames.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 2008-01-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. "Mike Harrington's LinkedIn profile". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  5. "Amplion Accelerates Precision Medicine".