Timeworks Publisher was a desktop publishing (DTP) program produced by GST Software in the United Kingdom and published by Timeworks, Inc., in the United States.

It is notable as the first affordable DTP program for the IBM PC. In appearance and operation, it was a Ventura Publisher clone, but it was possible to run it on a computer without a hard disk.

Versions

Timeworks Desktop Publisher

Timeworks Publisher 1 for Atari TOS Being designed for use with RISC OS, using the anti-aliased font technology already demonstrated on the Archimedes, utilising the multi-tasking capabilities of the RISC OS desktop environment, and offering printed output support for laser and dot-matrix printers, availability was deferred until the release of RISC OS in April 1989. The delivered product, Acorn Desktop Publisher, introduced Acorn's outline font manager and bundled 14 scalable fonts plus upgraded printer drivers (for Postscript-compatible and Hewlett-Packard Laserjet-compatible printers, plus Integrex colour inkjet printers) to provide consistent, high-quality output on screen and paper.

Despite being described as "streets ahead" of Timeworks on the Atari ST, offering "real desktop publishing, not the pale imitation possible with a Master 128 or model B", being comparable to "mid-priced DTP packages on the Mac or IBM PC", the software was regarded as barely usable on a machine with 1 MB of RAM and no hard disk (Acorn recommended 2 MB to use the software alongside other applications), and the limitations in editing and layout facilities led one reviewer to note that at the £150 price level and with other desktop publishing packages (notably Computer Concepts' Impression,

Nevertheless, with competitors still unavailable in early 1990, Acorn User deemed to be the platform's best desktop publishing package, noting that there was "little available yet for Archimedes DTP, although much is on the way soon". Ultimately, Acorn would promote Impression as part of its Publishing System package. Of the other anticipated competitors, Ovation was released later in 1990, and succeeded by Ovation Pro in 1996, having been previewed in 1995, whereas Tempest was apparently never released, being absent from Clares' software catalogue.

Curiously, Tempest was itself described as being "based on the Acorn DTP package" but aiming to remedy deficiencies and provide enhancements such as multi-column frames, "text flow around regular shapes", and improved text editing support, along with memory management facilities. Developed by a freelance programmer for Clares, a pre-release version was demonstrated in late 1989, apparently requiring only 128 KB of RAM, with work underway to optimise the display routines. A price of £129.95 including VAT was announced. Initially destined for an autumn 1989 release, it was postponed to an unspecified point in time in September 1989 with the specification having changed, but hints of a 1990 release were subsequently made in early 1990. Although a demo disk was apparently available, the product was widely advertised, and a preview of the software appeared in a late 1990 magazine issue, the product was evidently not completed. Clares later took over development of another Acorn product, the spreadsheet Schema, in 1990.

Publish-It!

In the U.S., Timeworks Inc. marketed the program as Publish-It!. Released in 1987, there were versions available for IBM PC (running over the GEM environment), Mac, and Apple II (Enhanced IIe or better) computers.

Another version, aimed at the business market, was named DESKpress. A later CD-based multilingual version for Windows was named Press International.

Other names

The product was also sold under other names including NEBS PageMagic (changed after objections from Adobe), Macmillan Publisher, Canon Publisher, and many other brands, distinguished by use of the .DTP file extension. The latest version was sold as Greenstreet Publisher 4 and is downwards file compatible with earlier versions.

Releases

  • 1987 - Timeworks Publisher (IBM PC, Atari ST)
  • 1987 - Timeworks Publish-It! 1.12 (IBM PC GEM-based)
  • 19?? - Publish-It! 1.19 by GST
  • 1987 - Publish-It! (Apple IIe)
  • 1990 - Publish-It! 1.20 (IBM PC)
  • 1990 - Publish-It! Easy 2.0 (Macintosh)
  • 1991 - KeyPublisher 1 by softkey (IBM PC)
  • 1991 - Timeworks Publisher 2 (IBM PC, Atari ST) GEM-based
  • 1991 - Timeworks Publish-It! PC 2.00 (IBM PC)
  • 1991 - Publish-It! Easy 2.1 (Macintosh)
  • 199? - Timeworks Publisher 2.1 (IBM PC - GEM/5-based)
  • 1992 - Timeworks Publisher 3 (IBM PC for Windows)
  • 1994 - Timeworks Publish-It! 4 (Windows 3.1)
  • 2009 - Publisher 4.6 Home & Business (Windows XP, Vista)