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Subject:Re: Why should I be worried about the merger? From:Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 18 Apr 2005 20:50:04 -0400
> But quite often proprietary *source* file formats are a requirement.
> Typically such requirement is for the de facto 'soft' standards
> that Adobe has made a mint from. Then it doesn't matter if I can
> hand-code rings around Dreamweaver, wring a PDF out of anything, or
> produce standard raster and vector images six ways till Sunday with
> non-proprietary tools. If Word, Illustrator, Photoshop or Frame
> files are deliverable along with the finished output, I have to own
> those products. Current versions, too.
Don't you think the requirements for the job would change if the tools
weren't available anymore? If someone came to me tomorrow and said "I
need you to write me a manual and deliver it in WordStar" I'd first
look at them like they were nuts and then probably ask if they have a
copy for me to work with. Otherwise, no dice for me, and no dice for
them until they happen to stumble across someone who still has
WordStar, is available, and wants to work with WordStar again.
> The Adobe/MM merger has been *long* anticipated. It had to happen
> for competitive reasons (think Microsoft). Nobody's surprised. The
> product lines will undoubtedly be collapsed, altered (proprietary)
> file formats promulgated as the new quasi-standards, and lip service
> paid to backward compatibility -- because exciting new 'integration'
> has been bestowed on the world.
No one's surprised? Haven't you been reading the various tech writing,
help authoring, web design, graphic design, and related lists, forums,
blogs, and other resources today? ;-)
> Ain't nothin' but churn, product churn and workforce churn. Churn,
> baby, churn: disco in-churn-o. (sorry)
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