Editing LaserWriter (section)

===Release===
The LaserWriter was announced at Apple's annual shareholder meeting on January 23, 1985,<ref name="bart-1985">Jim Bartimo, Michael McCarthy: [https://books.google.com/books?id=7S4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15 "Is Apple's LaserWriter on Target?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224125559/https://books.google.com/books?id=7S4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15 |date=December 24, 2016 }}, ''InfoWorld'', Volume 7 Issue 6 (February 11, 1985), pp. 15-18.</ref> the same day Aldus announced PageMaker.<ref>''Aldus Announces Desktop Publishing System ...'' BusinessWire, January 23, 1985.</ref> Shipments began in March 1985<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/index.cfm?newsid=24596 |title=Macintosh Timeline |access-date=April 13, 2010 |archive-date=June 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610164626/http://www.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/index.cfm?newsid=24596 |url-status=live }}</ref> at the retail price of US$6,995, significantly more than the HP model. However, the LaserWriter featured [[AppleTalk]] support that allowed the printer to be shared among as many as sixteen Macs, meaning that its per-user price could fall to under $450, far less expensive than HP's less-advanced model.

The combination of the LaserWriter, PostScript, PageMaker and the Mac's GUI and built-in AppleTalk networking would ultimately transform the landscape of computer desktop publishing.<ref name="pfiff-2003">Pamela Pfiffner: ''Inside the Publishing Revolution. The Adobe Story.'' Adobe Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-321-11564-3}}. Chapter ''Steve Jobs and the LaserWriter.'' Pages 33-46. A PDF of the chapter is available at  {{cite web |url=http://www.creativepro.com/article/inside-publishing-revolution-how-laserwriter-and-photoshop-changed-world |title=Inside the Publishing Revolution |publisher=CreativePro.com |date=December 3, 2002 |access-date=September 23, 2009 |archive-date=January 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106192137/http://www.creativepro.com/article/inside-publishing-revolution-how-laserwriter-and-photoshop-changed-world |url-status=live }}</ref> At the time, Apple planned to release a suite of AppleTalk products as part of the [[Macintosh Office]], with the LaserWriter being only the first component.<ref name="linz-1985">{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXnw5tM8QRwC&pg=PA143
|author=Owen W. Linzmayer
|title=Apple Confidential 2.0
|year=2004
|access-date=September 23, 2009
|isbn=978-1-59327-010-0
|archive-date=June 21, 2013
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621065345/http://books.google.com/books?id=mXnw5tM8QRwC&pg=PA143
|url-status=live
}} Chapter ''Why 1984 Wasn't like 1984.'' Pages 143-146.</ref>

While competing printers and their associated control languages offered some of the capabilities of PostScript, they were limited in their ability to reproduce free-form layouts (as a desktop publishing application might produce), use [[outline font]]s, or offer the level of detail and control over the page layout. HP's own LaserJet was driven by a simple [[page description language]], known as  [[Printer Command Language]], or PCL. The version for the LaserJet, PCL4, was adapted from earlier [[inkjet printing|inkjet printers]] with the addition of downloadable bitmapped fonts.<ref name=j/> It lacked the power and flexibility of PostScript until several upgrades provided some level of parity.<ref>[http://www.csgnetwork.com/hppclhist.html "HP's History Of Printer Command Language (PCL)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224212037/http://www.csgnetwork.com/hppclhist.html |date=February 24, 2012 }}, HP</ref> It was some time before similar products became available on other platforms, by which time the Mac had ridden the desktop publishing market to success.

The LaserWriter contained four built-in PostScript font families: Times, Helvetica, Courier, and Symbol.  These fonts became very popular as a result, being used a lot in desktop publishing.