Editing Aldus Corporation

{{Short description|Desktop publishing software company}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Aldus Corporation
| image = Aldus Corporation logo.svg
| industry = [[Software]]
| fate = Merged
| successor = [[Adobe Inc.|Adobe Systems]]
| founded = {{Start date|1984|02}}
| founders = {{ubl|Jeremy Jaech|Mark Sundstrom|Mike Templeman|Dave Walter|[[Paul Brainerd]]}}
| defunct = {{End date|1994|11}}
| hq_location_city = [[Seattle]]
| products = [[PageMaker]]
}}

'''Aldus Corporation''' was an American [[software company]] best known for its pioneering [[desktop publishing]] software. [[Adobe PageMaker|PageMaker]], the company's most well-known product, ushered in the modern era of [[desktop computer]]s such as the [[Mac (computer)|Macintosh]] seeing widespread use in the publishing industry.<ref>{{cite web | last=Fox | first=John | date=July 27, 2015 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1699089832/ | title=30 Years Ago, Aldus PageMaker Changed Life on Planet Earth | work=The Huffington Post | publisher=AOL Inc. | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020235107/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/30-years-ago-aldus-pagema_b_7880438 | archivedate=October 20, 2020}}</ref> [[Paul Brainerd]], the company's co-founder, coined the term ''desktop publishing'' to describe this paradigm.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.optimism-modernity.org.uk/documents/index.html#note1|title=The Stafford papers|work=The optimism of modernity: recovering modern reasoning in typography|publisher=Art & Humanities Research Council|last=Stiff|first=Paul|author2=Petra Cerne Oven|date=2004|accessdate=September 30, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cWRHALn9tLoC&q=%22paul+brainerd%22&pg=PA157|title=Responsibility at Work: How Leading Professionals Act (or Don't Act) Responsibly|first=Howard|last=Gardner|date=2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|via=Google Books|isbn=9781118047507}}</ref> The company also originated the [[TIFF|Tag Image File Format (TIFF)]] file format, widely used in the digital graphics profession.<ref>{{cite book | last=Sanchez | first=Julio | author2=Maria P. Canton | date=2003 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZ5SDTpMR-MC | title=The PC Graphics Handbook | publisher=CRC Press | page=422 | isbn=9780203010532 | via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | editor-last=Kasdorf | editor-first=William E. | date=2003 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eLLqPQ9Fv-wC | title=The Columbia Guide to Digital Publishing | publisher=Columbia University Press | page=253 | isbn=9780231124997 | via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | editor-last=Horne | editor-first=Robin E.&nbsp;N. | editor2=Stephen J. Sangwine | date=2012 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Y_uBwAAQBAJ | title=The Colour Image Processing Handbook | publisher=Springer | page=138 | isbn=9781461557791 | via=Google Books}}</ref>

Aldus was founded by Brainerd (who also served as chairman of the company's board), Jeremy Jaech, Mark Sundstrom, Mike Templeman, and Dave Walter.<ref>{{cite book|title=Real World Pagemaker 4|last1=Kvern|first1=Olav Martin|last2=Roth|first2=Stephen|publisher=[[Bantam Books]]|year=1990|isbn=0-553-34874-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/realworldpagemak00kver}}</ref> It was founded in [[Seattle]] in 1984 and was acquired by [[Adobe Inc.|Adobe Systems]] a decade later.

The company was named after 15th-century [[Venice|Venetian]] printer [[Aldus Manutius]].

==History==
PageMaker was released in July 1985 and relied on [[Adobe Systems|Adobe]]'s [[PostScript]] page description language. For output, it used the [[Apple LaserWriter]], a PostScript [[laser printer]]. PageMaker for the [[IBM PC compatible|PC]] was released in 1986.

In 1988, Aldus released an illustration program, [[Macromedia FreeHand|FreeHand]],<ref name=mw198810>{{cite magazine |title=An interview with Paul Braineird, president of Aldus Corporation |magazine=[[Macworld]] |date=October 1988 |volume=4 |issue=10 |pages=73–84 |first=Nancy E. |last=Dunn |url=https://archive.org/details/MacWorld_8810_October_1988/page/n74/mode/2up}}</ref> which was licensed from [[Fontographer]] developer [[Altsys]]. FreeHand competed directly with [[Adobe Illustrator]], which had been released a year earlier. The rivalry continued for years, even after Adobe acquired Aldus in 1994, because FreeHand was not included, but Adobe eventually acquired Freehand in 2005 with its acquisition of [[Macromedia]]. FreeHand MX was the last version offered by Adobe but is no longer sold or updated.<ref>{{cite web|title=FreeHand Support Center|url=https://www.adobe.com/support/freehand/ |website=[[Adobe Systems]]}}</ref>

In early 1990, Aldus bought [[Silicon Beach Software]], acquiring many consumer titles for the [[Mac (computer)|Macintosh]], including [[SuperPaint (Macintosh)|SuperPaint]], [[Digital Darkroom]], [[SuperCard]], Super3D, and Personal Press (later renamed Adobe Home Publisher). Silicon Beach was located in [[San Diego]], California, and became the Aldus Consumer Division.<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011062827/http://s-beach.com/about.html |archive-date=October 11, 2016 |url=http://s-beach.com/about.html |title=About Us |website=Silicon Beach Software}}</ref>

In 1993, Aldus bought After Hours Software and incorporated its products, TouchBase Pro and DateBook Pro, into the Aldus Consumer Division. In the same year, it acquired [[Company of Science and Art|Company of Science and Art (CoSA)]].<ref name="digi_Thes">{{Cite web |title=The story of After Effects – the compositing and animation software that has beaten the competition for 25 years |work=Digital Arts |access-date=December 31, 2019 |url= https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/creative-software/story-of-after-effects-compositing-animation-software-that-has-beaten-competition-for-25-years/}}</ref>

In September 1994, Adobe purchased Aldus for $446 million.<ref>{{cite news|title=ADOBE SYSTEMS REVISES ALDUS ACQUISITION|newspaper=New York Times|date=July 15, 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/15/business/company-news-adobe-systems-revises-aldus-acquisition.html |url-access=limited |agency=Bloomberg}}</ref> At that time, PageMaker was steadily losing market share to [[QuarkXPress]], but Adobe was still five years from launching their own desktop publisher, [[Adobe InDesign|InDesign]]. In 2001, after two major releases under Adobe, PageMaker was discontinued and users were urged to switch to the two-year-old InDesign.

Aldus developed the [[TIFF]] and OPI industry standards. The three founders of [[Visio Corporation]] left Aldus in 1990 to create the product which later became known as [[Microsoft Visio|Microsoft Office Visio]].

===Company name===
Paul Brainerd and the other Aldus partners named the company after [[Aldus Pius Manutius]], a renowned fifteenth-century [[Venice|Venetian]] pioneer in publishing known for standardizing the rules of punctuation and also presenting several typefaces, including the first italic. Manutius later founded the first modern publishing house, the Aldine Press.<ref>{{cite web |title=Aldus Pagemaker History |url=https://history-computer.com/pagemaker-complete-history-of-the-aldus-pagemaker/ |website=history-computer.com|date=January 4, 2021 }}</ref><ref name=mw198810 />

== Products ==

===Print publishing===
*[[Adobe PageMaker|PageMaker]] &mdash; A desktop publishing program

=== Prepress===
*ColorCentral &mdash; An OPI server
*[[Adobe PressWise|PressWise]] &mdash; A digital imposition program
*PrintCentral &mdash; A print output spooler
*TrapWise &mdash; A digital trapping program

=== Graphics===
*[[Adobe FreeHand|FreeHand]] &mdash; A vector drawing program
*Gallery Effects
*[[Adobe Persuasion|Persuasion]] &mdash; A presentation program
*[[Aldus PhotoStyler|PhotoStyler]]&mdash; A bitmap image editor
*TextureMaker &mdash; A program for creating textures/patterns
*[[SuperPaint (Macintosh)|SuperPaint]] &mdash; Painting and vector drawing program
*Intellidraw &mdash; A powerful yet simple drawing program

===Aldus Interactive Publishing/CoSA===
*[[Adobe After Effects|After Effects]] &mdash; A digital motion graphics and compositing program
*Hitchcock &mdash; A professional non-linear video editor, with titling and A/V transitions
*[[Extensis Portfolio|Fetch]] &mdash; A multimedia database

===Aldus Consumer Division ===
(formerly [[Silicon Beach Software]] and After Hours Software)

*[[Digital Darkroom]] photo enhancement software
*Personal Press consumer desktop publishing software
*DateBook Pro &mdash; Calendar management software
*IntelliDraw &mdash; A vector drawing program
*Super3D &mdash; 3D modeling software
*[[SuperCard]] multimedia authoring environment
*TouchBase Pro &mdash; Contact management software

==References==
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{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{cite web|url=http://www.seyboldreports.com/SRDP/0dp8/D0808003.HTM |title=Seybold Report on the merger with Adobe |access-date=January 5, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060112052345/http://www.seyboldreports.com/SRDP/0dp8/D0808003.HTM |archive-date=January 12, 2006 }}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.d4.dion.ne.jp/~motohiko/freehand.ht |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717233355/http://www.d4.dion.ne.jp/~motohiko/freehand.htm |archive-date=July 17, 2007 |title=The Vintage Mac Museum: Aldus FreeHand}}
*[http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/2009/12/deconstructing-bembo-typographic-beauty-and-bloody-murder/ Logo of Aldus Corporation]. An article on typography briefly discussing the origin of the Aldus logo.
*[https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Aldus+Corporation%22 Printed material related to Aldus products]

{{Adobe Inc.}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Adobe Inc.]]
[[Category:Software companies disestablished in 1994]]
[[Category:Software companies established in 1984]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in Seattle]]
[[Category:Defunct software companies of the United States]]
[[Category:1984 establishments in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:1994 disestablishments in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:1994 mergers and acquisitions]]