Desktop Publishing Tools That Didn't Make It

Summary

Today in Tedium: It’s easy to forget now, but desktop publishing was an immensely innovative thing when it emerged within the computing industry in the early ’80s. While at its heart a mishmash of hardware and software cleverly combined for a single goal, it was an empire builder, one that helped create new businesses and improve the status and positioning of existing ones. And with the decline of print as a medium, it can feel kind of old hat, but lots of stuff still gets typeset every single day. And while we’ve landed on a few standards, a lot of desktop publishing tools failed to make to it the present day. So in a continuation of our list of things that didn’t make it, Today’s Tedium takes a look at 10 early examples of desktop publishing software that you probably don’t remember desktop publishing was a killer app nearly 40 years ago and you were in diapers back then … if you existed at all. (Oh yeah, quick reminder of what makes things obscure, from our point of view.) — Ernie @ TediumFind your next favorite newsletter with The SampleEach morning, The Sample sends you one article from a random blog or newsletter that matches up with your interests. When you get one you like, you can subscribe to the writer with one click. Sign up over this way.Today’s Tedium is sponsored by The Sample. (See yourself here?) 1. Xerox AltoPlatform: Groundbreaking-but-failed computer platform that inspired the GUI-based world in which we liveEra: Mid-’70sTarget audience: TheoreticalThis one is likely going to be controversial with someone, which I fully admit is true. It is controversial. But that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wrong.Looking at the Xerox Alto, the computer that inspired Apple to create the Macintosh, as a machine that could be used to lay out and publish things might to some degree fudge the “desktop publishing” definition for some, but the case for it is pretty strong. First, one only has to point to Xerox’s legacy in copiers and printers as being compatible with...