Serendipity Software

Serendipity Blackmagic 1.0 was launched on July 1, 1996 and has gone through 3 major revisions. Each major update has changed the look and feel of the interface. In this post will take a stroll down memory lane and revisit those older versions with the aid of some screenshots from the archives.

Version 1

This was the first incarnation of Blackmagic. It ran on Unix platforms such as Linux, Irix and Solaris. The user interface used the XView toolkit. Some of the best known Blackmagic features such as Virtual Press, Autoproofing and Digital Blueline were already included. Clicking on each screenshot will open up a higher resolution image for closer inspection.

Version 2

This was the version that brought Blackmagic into the mainstream as it added support for the Windows and Mac OS X platforms. In order to accommodate the five supported platforms, the user interface was rewritten using the Java platform from Sun Microsystems. This version introduced Real Dot Technology, pagesetups, Colour Keys, the polling agent, ICC profile support,  JobGenie, the use of dongles, Deimposition, Pagesetup pools, Dotgain curves, Linearisation, ICC tweaker, Paper profiles and the Database manager.

Version 3

This version replaced the Java user interface with a native GUI toolkit. Using a native toolkit allowed us to perform a lot more of the tasks on the client side rather than on the server.  This version introduced Clustering, Duplexing, Flipbook, High resolution softproofing, Instant messaging, Monitor calibration, Virtual loupe, Spectrophotometer app, CIP3 export, Plate paint modes, rendering queue,  and imposition signature importing. A summary of some of the features can be found at the Serendipity Blackmagic product page.

Well that wraps up the trip down memory lane. We will revisit this post when version 4 is released!

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