Aldus

Aldus Corporation was a software company that developed desktop publishing software. It is known for developing PageMaker, an early product in the desktop publishing field. The company is named after 15th-century Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, and was founded by Jeremy Jaech, Mark Sundstrom, Mike Templeman, Dave Walter, and chairman Paul Brainerd. Aldus Corporation was based in Seattle, Washington. PageMaker was released in July 1985, and relied on Adobe's PostScript page description language. For output, it used the Apple LaserWriter, a PostScript laser printer. PageMaker for the PC was released in 1986, but by then the Mac was already the de facto DTP platform, with Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop completing the suite of graphic design software. Aldus went on to offer its Illustrator-like program, FreeHand, licensed from Altsys. FreeHand and Illustrator competed with each other for years, through multiple releases. This rivalry continued even after the Aldus acquisition, because FreeHand was not included, but Adobe eventually acquired Freehand in 2005 with its acquisition of then-owner Macromedia.