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New window into Quark: A screen shot shows how users of Quark's Digital Media System can look into the database to select objects to add to a page, be it in print or on-line.
Digital Revolution has ended, if Seybold is any indicationSAN FRANCISCO -- Seybold San Francisco was different in some subtle way this year. Maybe it was the dates -- Aug. 30 to Sept. 4, earlier than usual. Oh, it was held in the same place, Moscone Center, but the aisles didn't seem to be as packed as usual for the three-day expo Sept. 1-3. Being stuck in the middle of the week was part of the difference, too. But what was this feeling that somehow, things had changed? As readers of The Cole Papers know, I've been covering the Seybold trade show as long as there have been Cole Papers -- since 1991. (Editor's note: Actually, The Cole Papers has been published since 1989; it was a quarterly until 1991.) Different? Think different (i.e., ungrammatically)? Think grown up? I tried to put the tempest between San Jose-based Adobe Systems Inc. and Quark Inc. of Denver, which surfaced during Seybold, in proper perspective (see box at right). That TIFF aside, I strolled among products for Portable Document Format (PDF) workflow, asset management and color management, as well as cheaper, better scanners and digital cameras. Then I realized what had come to pass: After endless waves of revolutionary changes (desktop publishing, PostScript, electronic publishing and web publishing) The Revolution had ended. There was lots of great new stuff on the trade show floor, but the one and only revolutionary item I saw was a recombination of existing technology. Maybe all that's left for publishers to do is to get their ducks (digital assets) in a row and let the millennium shootin' match (repurposing of content) begin. Quark has at last recognized the necessity of a robust database to go with the world's top layout program, Quark XPress. A beta version of Quark Digital Media System (DMS) was demoed at Seybold, and has been assigned its own web site (http://www.quarkdms.com/). As the repurposing and redistribution of digital assets is job No. 1 for most organizations, Quark has jumped onto the bandwagon with an Oracle8-based database, which will run Windows NT or Sun Solaris (UNIX) servers, with clients that can be either Windows 95/98, Windows NT or Macintosh (MacOS 7.6 or later). A browser client will be offered, as will connections to third-party applications. Best of all, and this is very slick, is the deconstruction of Quark documents into their component parts when placed in the DMS server. That's everything from soup to nuts, including layout geometry, text format (including PDF and HTML), graphics, sound and video. Just hook it all up with TCP/IP and repurpose until the cows come home. Of course, no demo for one could simulate real world conditions, and while DMS certainly has great potential, we must ask, will it be ready in time for Quark to maintain its pre-eminent position? It might be here as soon as the first quarter of 1999, but remember the long gestation period for Quark 4.0 or Quark Publishing System 2.0? K2, the code name for Adobe's new page layout application, also has to be factored into the picture, and with a torrent of digital media storage and repurposing solutions already out there, Quark faces a tough fight for the same lion's share when 2000 rolls around. Any long delay in Quark DMS could prove highly dangerous, but when Quark is able to focus its energies, it can accomplish a lot for both the company and its users. We will speak of this again.
All PDF, all the time
PDF workflow and digital asset management aren't topics new to The Cole Papers -- in fact, these were covered this summer and as recently as last month's issue. Seybold San Francisco '98 drew several PDF production players to its show floor:
Asset this
The offerings of several companies are noteworthy, starting with Wam!Net of Minneapolis. Wam!Net has a different take on digital assets -- just outsource 'em. No software, no hardware to purchase, just a monthly fee based on the number of megabytes stored in Wam!Base, a digital database accessed via a wide area network. Delivery is by Wam!Net's variety of delivery solutions, from dial-up ISDN to faster, dedicated lines. Mabango 2.0 isn't a remake of that Clark Gable safari picture, Mogombo. It's media asset management software from Digital Graffiti of Hamilton, Ont., which manages physical as well as electronic data. The physical assets are managed by assigning bar code tags to all items. Mabango, being Open Database Connectivity-compliant, can chat with the major databases (Oracle, Microsoft Access and Informix). Currently only Windows-based, a Mac version is expected early in 1999. Rorke Data of Eden Prairie, Minn., has the first 100 percent pure Java-certified asset management database, Flexstor.db. Being Java-based, it's platform independent. Because it uses TCP/IP networking protocols, it enables easily distributed server processing. Client access is through, naturally, a web browser. This is your cup of joe, if you want some Java with your assets. I Hate to Bring This Up Dept.: As a Mac user and owner since 1985, I don't like to tout anything that makes switching from Macs to PCs easy, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention PC Migrator from Miramar Systems of Santa Barbara, Calif. According to the company, "PC Migrator is designed to rapidly and transparently ease the migration from the MacOS to a Windows 95, 98 or NT platform." The merits of such a decision aside, connecting a Mac and a PC with Miramar's companion product, PC Maclan, is all that is necessary. Migrator uses the Mac document's file type and creator information to automatically attach the appropriate DOS/Windows file extension, and eliminate illegal Windows characters from the file name. As Davey Crockett was reputed to have said, "Be sure you're right, then go ahead." All that's required, aside from the decision to go for it, is a '486 or better PC, some form of Windows and $89. At least it will make the conversion easy. And now for something really new and different. The company is Hypertouch Corp. of San Jose, in the heart of Silicon Valley. The product is Hypertouch, a three-ring binder that melds, in a near magical way (to someone who doesn't own a computer), a print magazine and its ads with a company's web page. Here's how it works, briefly: Take a regular three-ring binder. Put an infrared transmitter in the binder's spine. Stick touch-sensitive patches on the inside front and back covers. Punch holes in the magazine to insert it into the binder. Get the magazine advertisers' web sites linked up with the Hypertouch server. Place a Hypertouch sticker on all ads in the magazine with such links. Get an infrared link for your PC (no Macs yet), which comes with the binder. Turn on the PC and open a browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer). Touch the binder and a linked ad. Voilá! You are taken to the advertiser's web page. That's the essence of it -- instant gratification from printed page to web page. The tricked-up binder is free, as is an infrared receiver for your PC. Who pays for this? The advertisers, who will be charged a fee; right now it's $1 for every page view that comes to them via the Hypertouch connection. Will this generate enough revenue for the Hypertouch Corp. to make a go of it? It's too early in the process to know, but this might be a way to stimulate advertisers in the few remaining newspaper Sunday magazines to invest some ad dollars. Could this be the future of e-commerce, the last revolutionary act of the revolutionary 1990s, when every publisher was forced to learn the meaning of "repurposing" and "digital assets?" This could be the first blip on the revenue radar, as well as the first viable way to make advertising actually cross-platform. -- George Powell
Acquired Knowledge Inc., See also Few applauded as Quark, Adobe danced and Steve and Steve speak From THE COLE PAPERS, October 1998, Copyright © 1998, All Rights Reserved.
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