# PageMaker is to Adobe as (blank) is to Microsoft

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pagemaker-is-to-adobe-as-blank-is-to-microsoft/346511>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 28, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pagemaker-is-to-adobe-as-blank-is-to-microsoft/346511 "2006-02-28T20:18:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pagemaker-is-to-adobe-as-blank-is-to-microsoft/346511/1 "2006-02-28T20:18:24Z")

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Or, without the analogy:  
What does Microsoft sell that is comparable\* to PageMaker?

\*Publisher does, but the people i work for need better.

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**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pagemaker-is-to-adobe-as-blank-is-to-microsoft/346511/2 "2006-02-28T20:40:26Z")

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> [@SlickRoenick](#):
>
> Or, without the analogy:  
> What does Microsoft sell that is comparable\* to PageMaker?
> 
> \*Publisher does, but the people i work for need better.

I’ve been out of the graphics/printing game for a while … but circa early 2001, Microsoft had no comparable software to Pagemaker/Quark/InDesign. Publisher was about as close as they came.

In case your knowledge is as old as mine – Adobe InDesign has taken the place of Adobe Pagemaker. I think InDesign came out in 1999 or 2000.

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**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pagemaker-is-to-adobe-as-blank-is-to-microsoft/346511/3 "2006-02-28T20:45:21Z")

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Nothing.

There is no comparable product to Adobe InDesign/Quark ExPress.

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pagemaker-is-to-adobe-as-blank-is-to-microsoft/346511/4 "2006-02-28T20:56:15Z")

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FoxPro.

That is, it is a product that was considered to be pretty solid in its area until a larger company (Adobe buying PageMaker from Aldus; Microsoft buying FoxPro from Fox) snarfed it up only to let it languish.

Sorry, I know that’s not really what you were asking (your real question was answered by **Garfield226** ), but it best completes the analogy.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pagemaker-is-to-adobe-as-blank-is-to-microsoft/346511/5 "2006-03-01T04:49:57Z")

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There’s really nothing. Stick with InDesign or QuarkXPress (sic).