1987 – QuarkXPress & Adobe Illustrator
• Quark starts shipping QuarkXPress for the Macintosh. The first Windows version comes out 5 years later.
• Adobe Illustrator 1.0 is published for Macintosh. A Windows version doesn’t appear until 1989. Adobe primarily creates the application as a demonstration of the capabilities of its PostScript page description language. Many of the settings in the program directly refer to the matching PostScript operators.
• Iris Graphics, a Massachusetts based company, creates the Iris 3024. This digital proof printer is the first in a long line of printers, including the Iris 3047 shown below. In 2000 the company is acquired by Scitex. The 1995 Scitex Iris Realist is another groundbreaking proofing device.
• ImageStudio from Letraset is the leading gray-scale image-editing program for Macintosh and a source of inspiration for the developers of Photoshop. Another popular image edition program and my personal favorite is Digital Darkroom.
• PC users can upgrade to MS-DOS 3.3 or enhance their system’s video capabilities with a VGA graphics card.
• Linotype starts producing Type 1 typefaces which they license to Adobe.
• The Macintosh SE costs $2900 at its introduction. It has an expansion slot and an optional built-in 40 MB hard disk. The new Macintosh II is even more expandable. The Extended Keyboard II that ships with these systems is the best keyboard I have ever used.
• The world population reaches 5 billion.
• On Black Monday (October 19) the stock market drops 22%.
• The Herald of Free Enterprise sinks in the North Sea.
• An international treaty calls for a 50% reduction in the use of CFCs by the year 2000.
• The Italian porn star Cicciolina wins a seat in the parliament.
Ahhhh, ’87 was a good year – I graduated high school! Then I started the (unintentional) descent into printing & it’s all downhill from there. So sad.