• The iMac is launched and becomes an instant classic. Apart from its horrible mouse and small & fuzzy screen, the ‘bondi blue’ computer is a nice publishing system. In prepress it is very popular among students and for administrative tasks.

• PostScript 3 is announced, as it turns out the last update of Adobe’s page description language. It offers 12-bit screening and improved support for printing PDF pages and in-rip color separations.

• Agfa is the first vendor that announces a PDF-based workflow system, called Apogee. The system runs on the Windows NT platform and uses PDF 1.2 as its internal file format. Apogee Series3, launched in 2001 and using PDF 1.3, is the most powerful version before ApogeeX, a complete rewrite of the software, takes over in 2003.

• SyQuest Technology files for bankruptcy. For many years, 44 and 88 MB SyQuest cartridges were THE removable hard disks that people used to store data or transfer them to their service bureau.

• At his Comdex keynote speech, Bill Gates demonstrates the plug-and-play technology of Windows 98. While installing a scanner, his demo system crashes.

• At GraphExpo ‘98 Real Time Image shows off RealTimeproof, its web-based collaboration and approval tool which is based on streaming technology. Different vendors integrate the technology in their workflows until Kodak purchases the graphic division of RTI in 2004.

• Barco acquires Gerber Systems.

<1997 - 1999>