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by numpad0 24 days ago
Because everyone wants 100% PostScript-compatible printers and nothing else.

The PostScript was created by ex-PARC people as they were founding a small startup called Adobe Systems, and it was chosen by Apple for its revolutionary 1985 LaserWriter printer. LaserWriter was partially OEM'd by Canon, and its competitors couldn't simply steal the protocol; most others to date use a 100% compatible proprietary protocols that, IIUC, aren't internally that much different from it. And PostScript later became the basis for Adobe's other publishing data formats, including PDF, which means pdf/ai/psd is 100% guaranteed WYSIWYG. macOS 10.x also partially uses PDF to render desktop.

and this ^ is why.
2 comments
coldtea 24 days ago
>Because everyone wants 100% PostScript-compatible printers and nothing else.

Nothing about what the parent wrote prevents that.

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chubs 24 days ago
What if computers simply rendered 300dpi PNG files and sent that to the printer?
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exmadscientist 24 days ago
That's actually what a lot of Brother printers do with their default or generic drivers. Except... it's JPEG, not PNG, so you get artifacting. Drives me crazy.

Installing the specific driver like it's 1999 works well, but most people don't bother these days. And thus the world is a bit more crap.

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