In some ways, I think it was easier to get something unique going. The market was quite new and hungry for applications that made computers useful for everyday people.
Print Shop was absolutely one of those "applications that made computers useful for everyday people" for sure! Also, Print Shop on an Apple ][+ (Wow! A whole 64K of RAM and a 1Mhz CPU! So powerful! LOL!) with one of the earliest Epson 24pin dot-matrix printers, in combination with some crafty "cut and paste" skills (back when "cut and paste" still meant exacto-knife, rubber cement, and photocopy) made teenage-me a whole lotta spending money back then sellin' my "document design skills" to local businesses. My eternal thanks to all y'all folks who created Print Shop! May it live forever in the history books as the masterful achievement it was! ;)
Yeah, Richard W. suggested adding a print function to our original demo (called Perfect Occasion). I ran with that and started designing an interface for printed cards. Marty was the wiz who came up with the idea of not just doing a "screen dump" to the printer, but using the highest native resolution of each dot matrix printer currently on the market to make the printouts look "sharp". The original code for Perfect Occasion became the "Screen Magic" option in Print Shop.
That's so cool, I don't remember hearing that. Probably because I got involved a bit later, when PS was nearly complete. I did work with Richard W quite a bit back then. I thought it was cool how Marty stored the color graphics in the later version as separate bit planes CMYK.. or was it just CMY? Fun stuff writing graphic editors for the IIGS version that used that same format where nowadays bitmaps are interleaved. Optimizing the editors for this peculiarity was a fun challenge back then.
David Balsam popping in. It was a fun time, to be sure! The creativity shown by the users went way beyond the wildest dreams of the developers. I still occasionally see the tattered remains of a Print Shop sign or banner in random storefront windows.
My mom’s hard and fast rule when buying a new computer: It had better run Print Shop. She was barely computer literate but that program was soooo useful to her. You guys did a great thing.
That's great to hear, thank you! They were fun days, for sure. One of the most fun activities were the conventions that were created around Print Artist, the successor to Print Shop. PALs (Print Artist Lovers) were quite rabid with their love for the program. Blew me away.
David, I consumed a huge amount of dot matrix printer in my elementary school with Print Shop, making every kind of card and banner you can imagine.
30 years later I am starting a company to reimagine technology's role in childhood. In 1990, my friends and I were eating garbage from McDonalds and using brilliant software like Print Shop, KidPix, Pinball Construction Set, etc. In 2024, kids are eating organic pasta salad but poisoning their brains with garbage content on YouTube and Roblox designed to addict them.
Would love to tell you more about what we are working on. You can contact me at amal@cartwheelcomputer.com.
