UK’s MacUser has posted the first part of an interview with Quark Inc. director of product management Jürgen Kurz about his company’s efforts to bring its flagship software QuarkXPress to Mac OS X.
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Prodded about the future Mac OS X-native version of QuarkXPress’ release schedule, Kurz finally revealed that “it could be as early as March,” depending on how development and testing goes. “It must be a reliable workhorse,” he added. “This is not CorelDraw!”
Some industry pundits think that Quark’s continued lack of support for Mac OS X has held back adoption of the operating system in publishing and graphic design, two core markets for Apple.
Kurz also told MacUser that Apple has provided Quark with “technical help” in getting the new Mac OS X version — QuarkXPress 6 — out the door. Kurz challenged rumors that Apple is helping Quark pay for the development efforts, or that Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Quark CEO Fred Ebrahimi have had personality conflicts.
Kurz indicated that the new version of QuarkXPress would contain “exciting new stuff,” like full support for PostScript 3 RIPs and smooth shading. He indicated that the new version is “a complete rewrite” for OS X.