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Desktop Publishing Tools That Didn't Make It (2022)

A list of programs from the all-too-brief golden era of desktop publishing that “didn’t make it.” The GUI’s killer app didn’t slay forever.

This early application, akin to The Print Shop(a tool that, despite waning influence, is not on this list because it is still actively sold), made it possible to inexpensively make printable newspapers that you could then share with your friends—the ultimate ’80s thing to do with a computer. This tool, first developed by a group of former Digital Research employees (as reflected by the fact that the application was compatible with the DR-developed GEM), grew in influence thanks in large part to an affiliation with Xerox, which at one point bought the program after the original producer shut down. The British company Serif Europe has done an effective job of rebranding itself in recent years as Adobe’s most ambitious competitor in the graphic design software space, thanks to its popular Affinity line of applications —Designer, Photo, and Publisher.

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