• The NeXTcube is a high-end workstation developed, manufactured and sold by NeXT, the company founded by Steve Jobs after leaving Apple.

NeXT only survives until 1993 but its computers and NeXTSTEP operating system (shown below) have a big impact on our industry. The World’s first web server runs a NeXT system. Heidelberg’s SignaStation imposition software and OneVision’s applications debut on this platform and make effective use of its support for Display Postscript. NeXTSTEP later becomes the foundation of Mac OS X. Below you can see that NeXTSTEP already had a dock, located to the right.

• Aldus releases FreeHand 1.0, a vector drawing program which for many years is the main competitor of Adobe Illustrator.

• The HP DeskJet printer is an immediate success in the office printing market but it will still take a few years before inkjet technology starts having a major impact in graphic arts.

• Apple introduces System 6, the last version of its operating system that needs the clunky ‘Font/DA mover’ application to install fonts.

<1987 - 1989>