Editing QuickDraw GX (section)

===Release and use===
GX was initially released in about January 1994, as a separate package. Version 1.1.1 was bundled with [[System 7 (Macintosh)|System 7.5]] later that year and it was not successful. The package was large enough to strain the memory of most existing [[Macintosh]] computers of the era, and arguments like "you can now print to PostScript" were less than impressive considering many existing programs had already added such support. Users and developers generally ignored GX, and a market for the system simply never appeared.

There is an unknown reason for GX's failure in the market. For one thing, GX was very large, by itself requiring as much memory as the rest of the OS.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbKf4ilmW8EC&pg=PA41|title=Apple's System 7.5 trumpeted for ease of use |first=Mark |last=Halper |page=41 |volume=28 |issue=50 |magazine=[[Computerworld]]|date= 12 December 1994}}</ref> Speed was also an issue, limiting it to running only on Macs with a [[Motorola 68020]] or better. Given that the installed Mac base at the time still contained large numbers of 68000 based machines like the [[Mac Plus]], these requirements restricted the number of machines it could run on. When it was first released, one review noted, "QuickDraw GX isn't for everyone and requires more RAM than many Macs have to spare."<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/tidbits-243.html|title=TidBITS#243/12-Sep-94|publisher= Tidbits.com|access-date=2009-11-09}}</ref>

Additionally, the [[API]] for the system was very large, filling several books. Implementing a GX program was no easy feat, even though the development was supposed to be easier. This was not a problem of the GX architecture itself, but a side effect of the "all-inclusive" nature of the system—a problem most Apple products of the era suffered from (see [[Apple Open Collaboration Environment|PowerTalk]] for instance). As a result, the developer appeal was limited; a lot of effort would be required to use the system in programs, and the resulting application could only run on a subset of the installed base. The number of GX-based (as opposed to GX-''compatible'') programs numbered less than six, including Pixar's [[Typestry]]<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Jim |last=Feeley |title=New life for QuickDraw GX |magazine=[[Macworld]] |date=July 1995 |page=119 |volume=12 |issue=7 |url=https://archive.org/details/eu_Macworld-1995-07-INT_OCR/page/n122/mode/1up |editor=Cathy Abes}}</ref> and Softpress's [[Freeway (software)|UniQorn]].<ref>{{cite magazine
| url = https://archive.org/details/MacWorld9608August1996/page/n59/mode/1up
| magazine = [[Macworld]]
| title    = UniQorn 1.0.1
| first    = Joseph
| last     = Schorr
| date     = August 1996
| page     = 56
| volume   = 13
| issue    = 8
}}</ref>

Additionally, the change in printing systems presented serious real-world issues. While PostScript printing had never been easy, over the years since the release of the original [[LaserWriter]], developers had built up a library of solutions to common problems. With the change in architecture for GX, most of these stopped working. New "GX drivers" were needed for printers as well, and Apple didn't supply drivers for all of their ''own'' printers, let alone any third-party ones. Printing problems were endemic, and so difficult to fix that users often gave up on the system in frustration.

User uptake of GX was very close to zero, as was the case for most of the new technologies Apple released in the early 1990s. It might have seen widespread use as a part of the [[Copland (operating system)|Copland]] project, but Copland never launched. Although Apple continued to state GX was the future of graphics on the Mac, by 1995 it was clear they were no longer "pushing" it, frustrating its supporters.

[[Mac OS 8]] dropped support for the GX printing architecture, though the text management and color management architectures survived. Elements of the text management architecture became part of the TrueType Specification and elements of the color management architecture became part of the [[International Color Consortium]] specification. With the advent of Mac OS X, portions of GX live on in [[Apple Type Services for Unicode Imaging]] (ATSUI), and in [[ColorSync]], whose file format is identical to the original format developed for GX.