PaperCut Software turns 25 this month. That’s a quarter-century of crafting smart planet-saving print management software.
Since its humble origins in 1998, PaperCut has grown to an industry-leading print management vendor, spending two and a half decades helping 100 million users from 100,000 organisations in 195 countries to minimise waste with a secure and easy printing experience.
Lots and lots (and lots) of trees saved
We’ve crunched the numbers and reckon our solutions have enabled customers to prevent 3.2B pages from being printed, which amounts to 386,391 trees saved over 25 years. Give or take.
Our founders’ shock at the amount of paper wasted through print drove them to establish PaperCut in 1998 to help ensure more thoughtful and environmentally-friendly printing. Our solutions – which can scale to accommodate the needs of SMEs all the way up to large corporates like Google - combined with our values, has attracted many customers in many sectors ranging from education to healthcare, local government, and legal; such is the trust in the brand, 1 in 3 schools in the UK and Australia already use PaperCut.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
In our 25 years, we’ve been witness to some of the major changes in print and the workplace; from the move from mono to colour devices, the emergence of the networked MFP, the transition to print in the cloud, and, most recently, the adoption of hybrid working models.
I asked our co-founder and CEO Chris Dance his thoughts on the milestone:
“It’s amazing to think that 25 years ago this little bit of software to help our first customer Parkdale Secondary College would grow into what it has. An anniversary is a great time to reflect and an opportunity to say thank you to our customers and partners. For me, the highlight has been working with our customers and partners to truly create great software together. There is something magic about building something as a team. PaperCut was founded on the vision of being a 100-year company. 25 years down, 75 to go.”
By the way, we’re mighty proud that our first customer Chris mentions above is still with us, along with our first reseller AND first employee!
What was happening back in 1998 anyway?
Contrary to popular opinion, 1998 wasn’t just about the launch of PaperCut. Here’s a quick look at other moments from one of the most significant years in tech, music, movie, and (ahem) politics.
Tech (and a few extras)
- Google founded
- iMac released
- Microsoft largest company in the world
- Windows 98 is released
- 1st component of the International Space Station (ISS) is launched by Russia
- 2nd component of the ISS was launched by the USA
- Intel releases the Pentium II processor running at 333Mhz (single core)
- Exxon buys Mobil to become the 2nd largest company by revenue
Academy Awards
- Billy Crystal hosts the 70th Academy Awards for the 6th time
- Billy Crystal wins an Emmy for hosting the 70th Academy Awards!
- Titanic won 11 Academy Awards
- Jack Nicholson - Best Actor
- Helen Hunt - Best Actress
- Robin Williams - Best Supporting Actor
- Kim Basinger - Best Supporting Actress
- Good WIll Hunting - Best Original Screenplay
- My Heart WIll Go On - Best Song
- Men In Black - Best Makeup
Movies and TV
- Who’s Line is It Anyway debuts
- Seinfeld series finale
- Armageddon
- Saving Private Ryan
- You’ve Got Mail
- The Truman Show
- The Wedding Singer
- There’s Something About Mary
- The Big Lebowski
- Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
Music
- Baby One More Time - Brittany Spears
- Believe - Cher
- My Heart WIll Go On - Celine Dion
- Gettin’ Jiggy With It - Will Smith
- Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden
Sports
- Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 32 (American Football)
- Chicago Bulls won 6th NBA championship in 8 years (Basketball)
- Michael Jordan’s last game with the Bulls
- Curling and Snowboarding introduced at Winter Olympics in Japan
- France wins FIFA World Cup (Football)
- NY Yankees win world series (Baseball)
- Marco Pantani wins both Tour de France and Giro d’Italia (Cycling)
- Australia wins women’s World Cup field hockey
- Pat Rafter won US Open (Tennis)
- Female Athlete of the year: Se Ri Pak (LPGA Golf)
- Male Athlete of the year: Mark McGwire (MLB)
