PostScript

PostScript is a page description language developed and marketed by Adobe and used in Apple's LaserWriter line of printers.
==History==
===PostScript and Apple===
The architecture of PostScript was designed by Adobe Systems co-founders Charles Geschke and John Warnock, along with Doug Brotz, Bill Paxton, and Ed Taft from 1982 to 1984. Steve Jobs visited Adobe during its early days and convinced them to adapt PostScript to run on a laser printer. This was launched in the LaserWriter printer which featured a 12MHz Motorola 68000 processor that was faster than any Macintosh computer at the time in March 1985.Adobe-Apple war on Flash reminiscent of PostScript struggle by Daniel Eran Dilger, AppleInsider. 2010-05-14.Chronicles of Conflict: the History of Adobe vs. Apple by Daniel Eran Dilger, RoughlyDrafted Magazine. 2010-04-14. Jobs had Apple invest $2.5 million in Adobe for a 19% stake. This investment helped Adobe to become profitable quickly. However, the high royalty fees that Adobe charged for PostScript soon caused friction with Apple as it kept LaserWriters very expensive.
After Adobe resisted pleas from Apple to reduce licensing costs and began selling PostScript to other printer manufacturers that undercut the LaserWriter line, Apple dumped their remaining 15% stake in Adobe.A History of TrueType, TrueType Typography. Accessed 2019-12-11. On September 20, 1989, Apple and Microsoft announced a joint effort to develop alternatives to PostScript, such as TrueType font technology. John Warnock, who was CEO of Adobe at the time, distraughtly called it "the biggest bunch of garbage mumbo jumbo I've ever heard in my life".War, InfoWorld p.101. 1989-09-25. Adobe developed Adobe Type Manager to maintain the presence of its Type 1 fonts in the desktop computer market.
When Apple was financially struggling in 1996, Adobe teamed up with Microsoft to develop OpenType as a successor to both TrueType and Type 1.Microsoft and Adobe Systems to Deliver Universal Font Format Brings Profit Alliance Model to Microsoft’s Small Business Web Site, Microsoft. 1996-05-06.Adobe Type: frequently asked questions, Adobe. Accessed 2019-12-10. PostScript Level 3 was introduced on September 11, 1996.Adobe Announces Adobe PostScript Level 3, Adobe Systems. 1996-09-11. Archived 1996-10-26.
===PostScript and NeXT===
After Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985, he founded NeXT, which was an early adopter of Display PostScript technology.New from Adobe by Greg Scott, University of Michigan Computing News, vol.3, no.4, p.10-11. 1988-02-24. The integration of PostScript into the operating system allowed the NeXT Laser Printer and Color Printer to be significantly simpler and cheaper, while still maintaining speed and WYSIWYG accuracy in their printed output.NeXT Laser Printer by Kevin Ford, The Best of NeXT Collection. Accessed 2020-01-31.NeXT Color Printer by Kevin Ford, The Best of NeXT Collection. Accessed 2020-01-31. However, after Jobs returned to Apple, the new Mac OS X operating system (which was adapted from NeXTSTEP) replaced Display PostScript with a PDF-based imaging model called Quartz to avoid paying licensing fees to Adobe.NeXT: Apple’s Right Choice by Jonathan Ploudre, Low End Mac. 2001-05-07.Mac OS X and PDF by Laurens Leurs, Prepressure. 2013-08-09.
==References==
==External links==
*Do you need the capabilities of the Adobe PostScript page-description language? at Apple (archived 1998-01-10)
**Save a document in PostScript format on Mac at Apple Support
**Generating PostScript for CUPS at Apple Open Source
*Adobe PostScript at Adobe
**Adobe PostScript and Printing Technologies (archived 1996-10-27)
**What is PostScript?
*PostScript at the Adobe Wiki
*PostScript at the NeXT Wiki
*PostScript at PrintWiki
* at Wikipedia
Category:Adobe products
Category:Programming languages
Category:1984 introductions