The history of prepress

The new millenium: 2000 till 2007

The new millenium isn’t as much about technology as it is about business.

There are some interesting technical trends such as the increased adoption of PDF as an exchange format and Adobe’s move to capture the entire content creation market. Process-free technology becomes widely adopted for CtP system.

The majority of changes however are business oriented: the move to CTP kills many of the remaining trade shops, the internet starts having a negative impact on some markets, increased competition forces some printing companies out of business while others merge. Many vendors actually go through the same merger frenzy.

Some of the highlights of the decade:

• 2000: Adobe adds support for transparency in Illustrator 9, Creo and Scitex merge, Screen introduces Trueflow, lots of violet CtP systems are launched at Drupa, the millenium crash never happens.

• 2001: Apple launches the first desktop version of OS X while Microsoft goes for Windows XP, Agfa buys Autologic.

Apple Mac OS X

• 2002: Creo acquires ScenicSoft, Barco Graphics and Purup Eskofot merge.

Creo Preps software

• 2003: Adobe launches its Creative Suite software suite, the Canon 300D changes the camera market, Barco exits from the graphics market.

Canon 300D

• 2004: JDF 1.2 gets a lot of attentiona at Drupa, basysPrint is acquired by Punch International, Agfa introduces its first chemistry-free CtP plate.

JDF Works

• 2005: Kodak takes over Creo, Adobe acquires Macromedia, QuarkXPress 7 shows that Quark can still innovate its product, Epson’s K3 Ultrachrome inks and matching Stylus Pro printers are launched.

Epson Stylus Pro 4800

• 2006: Microsoft launches XPS, Adobe announces the Adobe PDF Print Engine, Apple releases its first Intel-based workstations.

Apple Mac Pro

• 2007: Adobe discontinues FreeHand, Esko and Artwork Systems merge, Fuji starts shipping its XMF workflow, PDF 1.7 becomes an ISO-standard.

Pages: 1 2 3 4

4 Comments to “The history of prepress”

  1. Ron MacLeod, on January 12th, 2008 at 11:01 am Said:

    Hi folks,

    Neat library page. I forgot all about aldus which was a blast from the past. I once had a pre-press manager who used to curse computers and rave about the simplicity of lead plates. Alot of innovation in the last century so thanks for the trip.

    kind regards,

    Ron

  2. Joe, on January 16th, 2008 at 6:39 am Said:

    That was a great trip down memory lane. Thanks. Unfortunately I’m old enough to remember it all happening. Ha!

  3. Marc Lager, on January 17th, 2008 at 9:27 am Said:

    Scitex started the “desktop revolution” with the Pixet work station in 1982. I was one of the first to operate one for Graphic Arts Systems (Burbank, CA). We did not only photo retouching but page layout as well and output film on the ‘Erray” ouput (up to 30 x 40″ film size). The system incorporated HP 600mg Hard Drives for each workstation.

  4. Absar Ahmed, on February 6th, 2008 at 5:22 am Said:

    Brilliant! . . .
    Very engaging and one of the shortest introduction to modern Prepress history events, I have ever read. Every graphic design student needs it.

    Regards!

Add a Comment