AppleInsider article from Sep 12 2025
https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/09/12/looking-back-at-steve-jobss-next-inc----the-most-successful-failure-ever
It's actually an old article from 2018 that got recycled. I found this interesting tidbit in the comment section:
Quote from: bloggerblogThe article missed out on the popular Signa Station software that was, and still is, the top imposition software in the market. At the time Signa Station ran only on NeXT.
There's also a post from Maurizio De Cecco who worked at IRCAM with the Cube-based ISPW.
That's a really interesting spot,
@Protocol 7. Kevra doesn't mention Signa Station, nor can I find screenshots of it. This forum thread (https://forum.rudtp.ru/threads/preps-vs-signastation.37359/) evidently says it requires YellowBox to run... and that it used to be called "Linomontage"?
Slightly newer screenshots (on Windows) of SignaStation clearly show an "Inspectors" menu, which is strongly NeXTian jargon, though they don't look obviously OSE/YB-based.
NeXTWORLD Extra, March 1993 has a product announcement for "LinoMontage" from Linotype-Hell: https://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Articles/NeXTWORLD/NeXTWORLD_Extra/93.03.Mar.NWE/93.03.Mar.NWExtra11.html
No evidence on ObjectWare Summer 1995. I guess it qualifies as a vertical integration with printer hardware?
Good work! A search for LinoMontage got me this (http://www.kevra.org/TheBestOfNext/ThirdPartyProducts/ThirdPartySoftware/InputOutputAndStorage/eXTRASET/files/page212_2.pdf).
From what I've been able to gather so far, the m68k package consisted of LinoPreview and LinoMontage. The Intel package that superseded this was Signastation.
They also had a similar package called DaVinci. DaVinci Power ran on custom RISC hardware but was later ported to IRIX as DaVinci Sprint.
There's little trace of any of this stuff online now.
Update: Re-reading the NeXTWORLD article I wonder if the m68k version ever came out. It sounds as if they switched to Intel before releasing Signastation.