January 2001, Vol. 12, No. 1

Omnex, we hardly knew ye: The workflow page of an early prototype of Atex’s now-defunct system

It has been reported in a number of places that during the development of the original Macintosh in the early-ish 1980s, things were not going well. Schedules? The engineers had blown a few. Deadlines? A few of those were now in the rearview mirror too.

Steve Jobs, a co-founder of Apple Computer Inc., whose career at that point rested on the successful development and deployment of the nascent Macintosh, knew he had the epitome of computer design sitting in Apple’s labs, but the remaining details needed to be wrapped up quickly. He exhorted the team to get moving. "Real artists," Jobs is alleged to have said, "ship."

By that he meant that even the best piece of artwork loses some of its luster if it’s not out there for the public to admire.

An attempt to draw a parallel between the Macintosh -- certainly one of the most important innovations in the history of computing -- and Omnex, the editorial front-end system from Atex Media Solutions Inc. of Bedford, Mass., which was announced in 1999 -- would be disserving both to Apple and Atex.

The ambitious multi-media content management system -- which is what editorial front-ends in the 21st century really must become -- had a great specification and at NEXPO 1999, where it was first publicly demonstrated, the product showed a lot of potential.

So it was with some sadness that we learned in December that Atex, once the No. One leader in the publishing systems industry, had elected to end development of Omnex.

Inside, we have a package that details the decision to end Omnex, Atex’s plans for a product to replace that particular hole in its product line, a thorough explanation of Omnex’s features and a condensed history of Atex, the company (for the latter item, we are in debt to Bruce Adomeit of Minneapolis' Star Tribune, who wrote a similar piece for us nine years ago, which we have updated here).

Also inside, we bring you an update on the world of digital ink, which we covered a year ago (see The Cole Papers, February 2000). Writer Jason Zappe, a systems editor at the Miami Herald, chats extensively with the staff of E Ink Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., which ran tests with digital ink systems at the Arizona Republic last year. Zappe also talks about the impact of those tests with Republic staff.

Further, Copy Editor Aimee Beck takes us inside a newly developing world -- that of the Web-based newsphoto delivery system. Beck chats with executives not only at PressLink-NewsCom -- the longtime leader in the field -- but also with folks from picSmart (recently started by a former Washington Post staffer) and Merlin-Net (recently started by David Tenenbaum, the former Associated Press photographer who built T/One Inc. into a powerhouse in the digital asset management world).

Lastly, we wrap up with an update on Clickshare, the Web delivery system, our annual publishing systems conference calendar and the ever-present Bit Bucket.

As said previously, it is sad that Atex believed it was obliged to cease Omnex development -- the product had a lot of potential. But it reminded me of the July 1999 Cole Papers that was headlined "Crap shoot." There, we wrapped up not just Omnex’s announcement, but also the announcements of two other new front-end systems: an upgrade by Digital Technology International of Springville, Utah, of its 'Speed product lines to be entirely based on Adobe InDesign and an entirely new front-end system by System Integrators Inc. of Sacramento.

Net-Linx Publishing Solutions, of course, acquired SII last year and the new product is still in development there.

We have received a number of strangled phone calls from Digital Technology customers in recent months, who are beginning to lose patience waiting for the delivery of the entire InDesign-based upgrade.

Neither is yet ready. Perhaps both companies would be wise to heed Jobs' exhortation.

-- David M. Cole, dmc@colepapers.net

From THE COLE PAPERS, January 2001, Copyright © 2001, All Rights Reserved.