Computer History Museum

Desktop Publishing Pioneer Meeting, day 2 session 7: Ventura, Aldus and Apple

Session 7 of the Desktop Publishing Pioneer Meeting focuses primarily on Ventura, Aldus, and Apple. Lee Lorenzen, one of the cofounders of Ventura, begins by describing the company’s origin and early management. He also explains Ventura’s exclusive partnership with Xerox and why the founders chose to sell the company to Xerox in 1990, after just five years, rather than attempt to build it into a large operation. Paul Brainerd then discusses Aldus and its PageMaker application. After sharing stories about the Aldus sales, marketing, and international distribution, Brainerd explains Aldus’ relationship with Adobe and his role in the Adobe purchase of Aldus in 1994. Lastly, John Scull talks about Apple’s efforts to market and sell the LaserWriter as well as package it with PageMaker and the Mac software applications. He and various participants also explore Apple’s relationship with other firms during this period, particularly during Jean-Louis Gassée’s tenure.

Item Details

Date
2017-05-23 (Made)
Type
Document
Catalogue number
102738494
Organization
Computer History Museum (Publisher)
Category
Transcript
Format
PDF
Credit line
Computer History Museum
Extent
47 p.
Place of publication
North America/USA/CA/Mountain View
Language
English
Acquisition number
X8209.2017
Subject
Apple, Aldus, PageMaker, Adobe, PostScript, Desktop Publishing, Jobs, Steve, Xerox
Archive collection
CHM Oral History Collection
Archive hierarchy
Desktop Publishing Pioneer meeting collection