New PDF creating software.

[jmucchiello]

However, with Linux quickly gaining ground on Windows, it's going to be more and more of an issue. It's already a larger market that the Mac, so porting to multiple platforms will be necessary, and at the least, software companies are going to need to be obvious about which platforms they support!

I don't see it. According to my webstats, my website gets more hits from ROBOTS than MAC and Unix/Linux systems combined. Windows machines are 90% of my traffic. I would like there to be an alternative to Windows. But Linux is not "quickly" gaining ground from my perspective. A gaming website may be a bit too fringe to be a real view of the world's surfers (RPG / Computer geek crossover is probably higher than general population / computer geek ratio).

 

[mythusmage]

This has got to be the... (snip)

How do you know this?

 

[Chern Ann]

How do you know this?

Seems pretty obvious. The only computers available in the 60s were dumb terminals connected to mainframes. If there had been enforced standardization, the personal computer would not have been invented, just faster mainframes.

I agree with Joe, it's impossible to tell what the next big thing is going to be. Just because we can't see what the future is going to bring doesn't mean that this is as good as it gets.

 

[mythusmage]

Seems pretty obvious. The only computers available in the 60s were dumb terminals connected to mainframes. If there had been enforced standardization, the personal computer would not have been invented, just faster mainframes.

How do you know this?

 

[Chern Ann]

How do you know this?

Your question is vague, but I'll assume it's not intentional.

If the "this" you are referring to is computer history, it's general knowledge for IT nerds like myself. For a general primer on computing history, try this:

http://www.maxmon.com/history.htm

In a pinch, there's always google.
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/History/

It is a popular view amongst historians that the Internet, and specifically, the http protocol (worldwide web) only enjoyed mass consumer acceptance due to the explosion in PC ownership. So ironically if there had been a standardisation in the 60s, it may be likely the only place to find this sort of information would be in hard copy. Most local libraries will have some basic books on computing history.

If by "this" you are asking how I know if there had been government enforced standardisation, there would be no PCs.... I think it becomes self-explanatory once you understand general computing history. If the government had mandated that all cars have 3 wheels, we would have no 4 wheeled cars.

Finally, if by "this" you are asking how Joe knows that personal computing and computing in general has not reached a regulatable plateau in development, that is also self-explanatory given some general knowledge in computing trends. Radically new things come out every few weeks rather than every few years as in the car industry (PDAs, cellphone mergence, handheld computers, wearable computers, new processors, software exploits, software patches, hardware exploits, SPAM, new standards to combat SPAM etc).

A good resource to keep your finger on the pulse of IT is http://www.slashdot.org

 

[Cergorach]

I don't see it. According to my webstats, my website gets more hits from ROBOTS than MAC and Unix/Linux systems combined. Windows machines are 90% of my traffic. I would like there to be an alternative to Windows. But Linux is not "quickly" gaining ground from my perspective. A gaming website may be a bit too fringe to be a real view of the world's surfers (RPG / Computer geek crossover is probably higher than general population / computer geek ratio).

Primary linux use is often time on servers, fanatical private users, or corporations that have migrated to a cheaper Linux environment. The fanatical private users are a rather small bunch, and probably the only users you'll ever see on your site.

 

[jmucchiello]

Primary linux use is often time on servers, fanatical private users, or corporations that have migrated to a cheaper Linux environment. The fanatical private users are a rather small bunch, and probably the only users you'll ever see on your site.

And thus end-user software will not get ported to Linux as a fast, up-and-coming alternative to Windows, which was my reason for saying I don't see Linux gaining momentum. People are complaining that Desktop software assumes Windows generally. Linux is not a counter-indicator.

 

[Cergorach]

And thus end-user software will not get ported to Linux as a fast, up-and-coming alternative to Windows, which was my reason for saying I don't see Linux gaining momentum. People are complaining that Desktop software assumes Windows generally. Linux is not a counter-indicator.

That's where i think your wrong, i suspect there are very few private users that actually bought their copy of acrobat, photoshop, etc. Corporate users do buy their software, that's where the cash is, if they don't, RIAA (or equivelant organizations) will hunt them down and milk them for all their worth. Just because users use windows at home and office, outlook, etc. isn't a reason anymore for a company to 'please' their employees, they want an efficient environment that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Currently the economy isn't that great, so companies need to cut corners, paying less for software liscences is an efficient way to do that.

What does your average corporate computer workspace entail? Webbrowser, wordprocessor, spreadsheet, email program, and probably some company specific programs. Only the company specific programs might pose a problem on a platform other than the one currently in use. These days a lot of company specific programs are being developed as web enabled, so on a workstation you'll only need a webbrowser. Why is Linux (and similar OSes) interesting for companies? For one their free as in free beer and free as in free to change (and check for security holes). WinXP Pro + Office XP cost a lot, especially for a couple of hundred users, even more so with the new liscencing scheme from MS.

I could probably rant a lot more, i won't, back to the topic.

 

[HellHound]

What version of ID did you use?

I find that ID2.02 produced smaller file sizes than Acrobat5, Acrobat 6 works a lot better with compression of files (even for older versions).

I almost never print directlty from ID, i first convert it to PDF, then i print...

ID 2.0 at the time.

The biggest problem wasn't file sizes (which I finally licked with some extensive twiddling), but the fact that I NEVER managed to get a copy to print properly @ the two POD printers I sent the book to.

In the end I gave up, sent a stripped down version without page background graphics and so on, and it finally printed without choking but STILL had print problems with missing fonts on some pages where the same font was fine on another.

 

[Cergorach]

ID 2.0 at the time.

The biggest problem wasn't file sizes (which I finally licked with some extensive twiddling), but the fact that I NEVER managed to get a copy to print properly @ the two POD printers I sent the book to.

In the end I gave up, sent a stripped down version without page background graphics and so on, and it finally printed without choking but STILL had print problems with missing fonts on some pages where the same font was fine on another.

Ouch! The files could be viewed without any problems in Acrobat Reader? WHat kind of printers have you printed on?

For high quality color prints i use a Xerox DocuColor 2240, haven't really had any problems yet.

There are some specific pdf standards that not every program uses (ene adobe apps), printers are pushing for the standard, i haven't looked at the specifics though (because i haven't had to use a POD printer yet). I'll see if i can find some reading material...