Editing QuickDraw GX (section)

===Creating GX===
GX appears to have started in a roundabout fashion, originally as an outline font system that would be added to the Mac OS. Included in the font rendering engine were a number of generally useful extensions, notably a [[Fixed-point arithmetic|fixed point]] coordinate system and a variety of curve drawing commands. The system also included a system for "wrapping" existing PostScript [[Type 1 font]]s into its own internal format, which added bitmap preview versions for quick on-screen rendering. This project later took on an expanded role when Apple and [[Microsoft]] agreed to work together to form an alternative to PostScript fonts, which were extremely expensive, creating the [[TrueType]] effort based on Apple's existing efforts.

Another project, apparently unrelated at first, attempted to address problems with the conversion from QuickDraw into various printer output formats. Whereas developers had earlier been forced to write their own code to convert their QuickDraw on-screen display to PostScript for printing, under the new printer architecture such conversions would be provided by the OS. Additionally the new system was deliberately engineered to be as flexible as possible, supporting not only QD and PS printers, but potentially other standards such as [[Hewlett-Packard]]'s [[Printer Command Language|PCL]] as well. The system also supported "desktop printers" (printers that appeared as icons on the user's desktop), a long sought-after feature missing from QD, and added improved printing dialogs and controls.

It is not clear when the projects merged, but this was a common theme in Apple at the time. Middle-managers were involved in an intense [[wikt:turf war|turf war]] for much of the late 1980s and early 1990s, gathering projects together into "über-projects" that contained enough important code to make them "unkillable". Sadly, this often delayed the projects dramatically; one component running behind schedule forced the entire collection to be delayed so they could be released "complete". QuickDraw GX was one such victim, and delays and changes of direction in TrueType and other problems greatly delayed the introduction of GX.

Discussions of GX technology started appearing in various trade magazines around 1992, notably Apple's own [[develop (Apple magazine)|develop]]. At the time it appeared release was imminent, perhaps late 1992 or early 1993.