The SK8 project was created by Ruben Kleiman when he joined Apple in 1987. He had come to Apple to develop a flexible, object-oriented user interface and multimedia development environment. The name of the project derived from his interest in skateboarding. Coincidentally, at this time the HyperCard, with its direct manipulation interface and scripting language, was about to ship. While HyperCard was great for simple applications it used a limited interaction model – the "stacks" of cards" – that limited its potential applicability. SK8 attempted to extend these benefits to a wider programming role.