Serif (Europe) Ltd
Company typeLimited company
IndustrySoftware
Founded1987
HeadquartersWest Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
ProductsList of Serif products
OwnerSerif Senior Management
Websitewww.serif.com

Serif (Europe) Ltd is a privately owned British developer and publisher of software. It provides software and associated products direct to customers through its website and contact centre in the United Kingdom, and through retailers.

The wider Serif Group Ltd also operates a question-and-answer support website called CommunityPlus, and formerly operated a gifts and gadgets website called Gizoo.[1][2]

History

Serif was founded in 1987 by a small team of software engineers, with the objective of creating lower-cost alternatives to existing Desktop Publishing (DTP) software packages using the Microsoft Windows platform.[3][4]

The first Serif product to be released was called PageStar: a simple, low-cost advertisement layout program for Windows 2.0. This was expanded in 1990 with their follow-up, PagePlus (originally for Windows 3.0),[4] which would go on to win 'Best Software' at the Computer Shopper Awards 2014.[5] In subsequent years, this was accompanied by other software products in the 'Plus' range, including DrawPlus (1994),[6] PhotoPlus (1999),[7] WebPlus (2000),[8] and MoviePlus (2003).[9]

In 1996, Serif was acquired by American company Vizacom (formerly known as Allegro New Media); however, ownership was sold back to Serif senior management in 2001.[10][11]

The successor to their DrawPlus product, Affinity Designer (a vector art & design package), was launched in 2014 for macOS.[12] It was Serif's first product for macOS, and had been written from scratch specifically for it.[13] This was followed in 2015 by the second Affinity product (and successor to PhotoPlus), Affinity Photo (a photo editing & design package).[14]

In 2016, following the release of Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo for Windows, Serif ceased development for their 'Plus' product range to focus exclusively on the Affinity product range.[15] Support for the legacy product range ended in July 2022.[16]

Affinity Publisher, the successor to PagePlus and the third addition to the Affinity product line, was released in 2019.[17] There are no current plans by Serif to replace the WebPlus and MoviePlus product lines in the Affinity range.[18][19][20]

Products

Main article: Serif Products

The following are all software packages, for the following applications:

Current products

Discontinued products

References

  1. ^ "CommunityPlus". serif.com.
  2. ^ "GIZOO Trademark Information". trademarkia.com. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  3. ^ "About Serif". 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
  4. ^ a b PagePlus 10.0 Companion (PDF). Serif (Europe) Ltd. 2004. pp. 5–6.
  5. ^ "PagePlus X8 wins 'Best Software' award at the Computer Shopper Awards 2014". Serif Blog. November 28, 2014. Retrieved 2015-08-27.
  6. ^ "Serif DrawPlus X8 Review - Pros, Cons and Verdict". TopTenReviews. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  7. ^ "Serif PhotoPlus X8 Review - Pros, Cons and Verdict". TopTenReviews. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  8. ^ "Serif WebPlus X8". www.comparedandreviewed.com. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  9. ^ "MoviePlus Video Editing Software (for Windows) Review". TopTenReviews. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  10. ^ "Vizacom Sells Its Software Operations Company to Receive $1,137,500 From Serif". Vizacom release, dated 2 April 2001, from the PR Newswire archives. The Free Library, by Farlex website. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  11. ^ "Software Publishing Corporation - The Personal Computer Museum, Brantford, Ontario, CANADA". pcmuseum.ca. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  12. ^ "Affinity Designer is a new graphics design suite available for Mac". iMore. 2014-10-02. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  13. ^ "Serif reveals its best-kept secret – Affinity Photo for Windows is coming". TechRadar. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  14. ^ "Serif releases Affinity Photo". ArtStation Magazine. 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  15. ^ "Digital Craft: Serif discontinues its Pageplus, Drawplus and Photoplus designing software to focus on its(Serif) new Affinity range of Professional graphic design software - ANINO". ANINO. 2017-08-10. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
  16. ^ "Information about the Legacy Plus Range - Affinity Forum". 2022-07-05. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
  17. ^ "Affinity launches professional desktop publisher for Mac with integrated vector design and image editor apps". 9to5Mac. 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  18. ^ Pesala, Bhikkhu. "WebPlus". www.softerviews.org. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  19. ^ "WebPlus has been discontinued". www.serif.com. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  20. ^ "MoviePlus has been discontinued". www.serif.com. Retrieved 2018-08-06.

External links

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