PageStream Past Present Professional Publishing
By Deron Kazmaier

I've never considered myself part of the mainstream Amiga scene, so you can imagine my surprise when Fleecy Moss asked if I might write an article or even a series of articles for CAM. As the developer of PageStream, a desktop publishing program, I have always considered my work vertical. Of course, I consider PageStream to be exceptional in the computer-publishing field but I just might be a little biased!

My personal exposure to traditional publishing started young. I actually have two uncles who are in the printing business as well as run small county newspapers. While my parents would spends days visiting with the relatives, I was down at The Lewis Press cutting and pasting my own pages from segments in the trash. In fact one day when I was about 8 I got tired of the sheath on the exacto knife and took it off. Not much later I managed to pop the blade backwards and put a deep cut on my finger. Helps to remind me that the Cut command in the Edit menu really does have some history to it! Despite that incident, I still enjoy the strong smell of ink and solvents used in printing presses. What can I say; I've got it in my blood. You might say I cut my teeth (and finger) in the publishing world.

Not surprising, my exposure to computers came at home. My parents bought an Apple II just weeks after they first introduced the floppy drive. In fact when we opened that huge Christmas gift my freshmen year in high school, the floppy drive was still on back order. After spending all day in front of it typing a game from a magazine it was time to shut it off and loose the work. A feeling that I still haven't got used to!

Like most programmers, I am self-taught. By my junior year in high school, I was teaching the computer science teacher. It might have been out of shame she referred me to a local computer company by the name of LJK for employment. Some old hats in the computer world might recognize the name. They developed LetterPerfect, SpellPerfect, DataPerfect and SimplyPerfect (a works program) for the Apple, Atari, and Commodore 8bit computers. In fact, we had one of the first IBM and Mac computers in house. Unfortunately for LJK, management decided those computers would never make it and was not
work the development cost. It is there at LJK that I met my first and only business partner, and he and I formed SoftLogik in the summer of 1985 with the express purpose of developing publishing software for the new 16bit computers. He was to take care of the marketing and sales, and I handled the development.

Working from our parent's home, we started looking into what we thought were the two best computer platforms to start with. The new Atari 16bit computers, then built as the Jackintosh and the Commodore Amiga. When we contacted Commodore, we were told that we needed to first provide a business plan and fill out a multipage form. Atari? They just wanted $1500 and would send us all the hardware, software and documentation to develop for the Atari. We pooled our savings and December 24th, 1996 we released Publishing Partner v1.0 for the Atari. Just a year after Aldus PageMaker was released for the Macintosh, and a full year before Quark Xpress came out. Publishing Partner was a phenomenal success and even some mainstream publishing magazines stood up and took notice.

While PageStream grew and matured, the Atari soon failed. By 1998, we were still developing the Amiga version of Publishing Partner, and sales were dropping. My partner and I soon parted, leaving me with the company and him with the cash. Not much later SoftLogik was told to "cease and desist" using the name Publishing Partner. While we had a publicly available product by that name, they had the lawyers and pocket books. In the business world a fistful of lawyers and cash win over the truth, and soon Publishing Partner became PageStream. I still remember the night before our first public display of PageStream at the AmigaWorld Expo in Los Angles. We were sitting in the hotel room trying to get PageStream to run right, and about 2 am I proclaimed that if time travel ever became feasible in my lifetime I would drop off a set of floppy discs outside our door with the final source code. Unfortunately, a peek outside our room reveled no such package. Sigh. That weekend, I and the
other programmer could be spotted wearing straight jackets. Seems befitting now. Evidently the strain was too much, and the Amiga programmer who was helping with the development of the Amiga version quit. I picked up the pieces and took off from where he left off. This was a pattern that would repeat itself many times in the future. Evidently, working on PageStream takes a glutton for punishment. Finally, in March of 1989, we released the first version of PageStream for the Amiga. Our troubles soon faded. Many well received releases followed, and life was good. At least until 1994.

As most will remember, that is the year that Commodore Amiga closed its doors for good. Again, SoftLogik was caught half done with a product. This time is was the Macintosh and Windows version of PageStream and again we lost the programmers. Luckily, Gary Knight was still employed and working on the Amiga libraries and he managed to finish the Macintosh libraries for PageStream in 1996 but by then it wasn't the programmers that were beginning to see the strain of PageStream. No, this time it was my wife and by 1998 we were separated.

So what does someone has hardheaded has myself do? Pack my bags and move to Wisconsin, which is where I've wanted to live for many years. While most programmers stick with other technical hobbies in their spare time, my free time is filled with dogs. I run a mid-distance team of sled dogs and raising and training is how I get away from it all. In Wisconsin I can do that out my back door almost any time of the year. A luxury I did not have in the warmer climate of Missouri.

My move to Wisconsin and the Internet has changed the way I sell and support PageStream. A small company by the name of GrasshopperLLC now sells PageStream for me, and together we handle the marketing of PageStream. Other than occasionally enlisting help from other programmers on a part time bases, I am solely involved in the continuing development of PageStream. Technical support and product deliver is now speeded by the Internet. Updates are easier to release, and I have a better often-daily contact with my customers. In 1999, I completed and released the Windows version of PageStream, and brought the total number of operating systems supported to 4.

Today, PageStream still competes well with other desktop publishing programs. The last public Quark Xpress feature wish list was filled with features that PageStream already had. Good luck I say to them! PageStream is a product in motion. Development of a Linux version of PageStream is going well, and we continue to sell new copies of PageStream at a pleasing
rate. With the reduced overhead that the Internet and a virtual workplace provides, and higher sales volume, we have been able to lower PageStream's retail price from what was $395 at one time, to the current price of only $99 for a full copy.

And the Amiga? Even nine years after Commodore's demise, our Amiga customers are extremely active users and still very supportive of all we do. Today, Amiga users are experiencing PageStream for the first time. So it should be no surprise that we continue to support the Amiga community. Thanks to Amiga Inc., Hyperion, and Eyetech, the Amiga has a bright future. Thanks to these folks, I have witnessed the development of OS4 and have been well supported, and I have already publicly announced our ongoing development of an Amiga OS4 version of PageStream. This version is currently in beta form, and will be finalized with the public release of OS4. If you would like to know more about PageStream, and our commitment to the Amiga, I would be delighted if you would take a moment to browse our website at www.grasshopperllc.com. It is with your commitment that we can continue to show our commitment to the Amiga.

A lot as changed in the last 18 years of my life, and much for the better, but one thing has remained the same. PageStream.

Deron Kazmaier - malto:support@grasshopperllc.com
Grasshopper LLC Publishing - http://www.grasshopperllc.com/
PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows