Scroll down a bit for a recent update of a screenshot from Adobe blogs, previously at WifiExeter. The point is that current Adobe discussion seems not to include print enough for JDF to turn up that often as an issue. Could be wrong about this. Future screen shots will also be recorded somewhere.
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7 June 2005. Almost a year since this page was updated. For a blog this may not matter. Other pages do change. Another Printweek Power 100 is coming up. Copy of recent email-
"I would like to nominate John Cunningham from Adobe UK for consideration as part of your 'Power 100' feature. Printweek published my letter last time explaining why I thought he should be included. Adobe are sometimes forgotten as a supplier for the print industry.They assume that Postscript OEM sales are not going to grow as fast as web services so their promotoinal budgets are not concentrated on IPEX. However InDesign is promoted and John Cunningham has done as much as anyone to explain the intention, even on the early versions where not everything was working. Currently InDesign is doing ok. What sort of evidence of 'influence'do you need? Another reason for mentioning John Cunningham would be to encourage Adobe to think more about the print industry. I fear he may be sent off for retraining in video unless there is some feedback that he is appreciated. I will be mentioning this topic on my IPEX 2002 blog and maybe other websites."
29th June 2004
The Printweek Power 100 is published. Yet again John Cunningham is mysteriously missing. I have sent another letter, much the same as previously. I really do think the print industry should recognise the efforts of Adobe to promote new stuff. Sales of Postscript are not growing as fast as some other products. There is a danger that people like John Cunningham will be sent off for retraining and expected to sell video. At drupa the Adobe profile was fairly restrained except for the new video suite in the software parc.
Printweek have included Martin Bailey from CIP4 and Global Graphics, a new entry at 63. "Allegations of JDF hype cannot be levelled at Bailey, who is measured, precise and clear about what JDF can do." Adobe have also contributed to JDF but maybe this has not been so visible in the UK. Some definite information on the JDF plug-in for InDes ign and Acrobat would be welcomed.
Meanwhile John Cunningham on behalf of Adobe has accepted the Macworld 2004 Award for Imaging Software. Maybe this is where confusion arises. Creative Suite includes Golive for web design but my guess is that most work on Photoshop still ends up as hard copy.
I have suggested Printweek keep track of publishing groups that use InDesign as a way to measure influence, one of their criteria. In the UK maybe the switch has already happened but there could be even more data by the next poll.
11th May 2004
There has been some updates from drupa in the blog at blogspot. Here is one photo. Assuming broadband or patience there are more here.
29th April 2004
Seybold Amsterdam was really interesting and encouraging. Updates at various sites. Forms and data at Acrobat Services.com . Preview guess at WWW.atford. The next Seybold Amsterdam is scheduled for June 20–24, 2005 next year. I think you should book these dates now. The lack of interest from UK media was fairly amazing. Maybe I missed some.
Printweek has a web page for voting on the 'Power 100'. I still think John Cunningham should be in there somewhere. InDesign is now doing fairly well so this shows some influence from somewhere.
There is still a danger that Adobe will start to put less emphasis on print and concentrate on video or something. If print media sometimes do something inclusive it could help.
Andrew Tribute has an excellent blog that will presumably be updated during drupa. He wrote back in March about JDF and whiteboards, suggesting a whiteboard may remain as the central planning resource for most companies. This photo from Seybold Amsterdam could be relevant. Screen shots stuck together to seem familiar. Van Gennep's Plan System was a Seybold 'Hot Pick'. JDF was everywhere.
18th March 2004
I have found a fairly disappointing photograph from Ondemand / AIIM. The caption reads "Partners in the JDF Workflow Tour demonstrate JDF interoperability--across vendors and within their own product suites--to show a complex set of inter-relationships that parallel real world implementations." Actually the photograph just seems to be of a large group of people listening to some talk. Surely something a bit more clear could come out of drupa and/or Seybold Amsterdam? There needs to be a good demonstration and some careful photos. Any ideas or links would be welcome.
5 Feb 2004
There is more detail on the Seybold site about Amsterdam. Adobe will have a much greater presence than I had guessed. They will have a stand and also will offer a day for PDF developers on the Monday. This is usually just for the developer network but it seems this will be open to everyone attending Seybold. The e-forms summit clashes with one of the PDF days but it will include the open standards as well as Adobe and Microsoft. It looks like a good occasion to find out what is going on. JDF is one example of forms and XML. It will be interesting to see how many approaches use PDF forms as their option. I will update the 'documents' page at Acrobat Services.com with more connections on this.
1 Feb 2004
The 'news' on the front of this site seems to have settled into one item each on Seybold Amsterdam and drupa. This will probably continue till June. The 'comment' will often be around the expectation that information about Adobe will be less than it could be at both events. Web links may help though. Apparently there will be web broadcasts on February 10th, 24th and March 3rd. Details will probably turn up on the financial calendar page.
21 Jan 04
It seems to have taken a while to get back into the new year. Looking at the front page it still seems ok. Seybold Amsterdam in April followed by drupa in May. Not much else will change on the news page though there will be detail. I have posted a comment at PlanetPDF to suggest that there is now European PDF time that is still looking at hard copy, and then there is Pacific PDF time where everything is online. Maybe Seybold will be on European time for the first six months after which Europe will suddenly catch up but maybe from a sounder base. Hard copy still has a lot going for it.
23rd November 03
I have done a PDF with notes on what to look for at Digital Print World. Any comments welcome.
It is puzzling what has happened with the Print NTO. Indeed it is not very clear how sector skills are working out in general. It seems that most activity is now based at the BPIF. After writing the comment on the skills needed to support Network Publishing I have been looking at some other sectors that might be relevant.
The e-skills site is easy to follow if a bit boring. These are the kind of people who ask you if you have done a backup recently or thought about security. The skillset site is a Flash mystery tour. The icons mean something to somebody but it may take a while to find out what. Surely print could connect with one or the other or both and make a useful contribution?
19th October
I have started to update another blog at Blogger. This will be easier to reach during next week at Digital Solutions
7 October
Updated news page with links to Andrew Tribute site. Left the comment ( go reconfigure ) as is. The PDFs from Attributes will probably stay relevant through November. Maybe Printweek will publish another article on Heidelberg.
2 October
I have had a letter published in Printweek
going on about InDesign and PDF. One suggestion was that Printweek should include John Cunningham from Adobe UK in their next list of the 100 movers and shakers for UK print. Some suppliers of equipment do make the list, but software seems to be missed out.
The idea came up trying to think about why there are two digital shows in London this year. One is based on a PIRA conference that has attracted a few hundred people. This must include some of the Printweek 100. The other has been aimed at 'production professionals' and has attracted a few thousand Mac users. Maybe there is a role for both shows. In October there will be a technical case made for 'why we want a G5' but the actual decision will depend on November study of 'Digital Colour Printing-Forecasts to 2008'.
Adobe is moving in a corporate direction so maybe this is why they have a stand at Digital Print World. Maybe they hope that InDesign will appeal to a newspaper or magazine group. Many people will try to keep an open mind while exploring Quark 6 at Digital Solutions.
"Network Publishing" will not be presented at Digital Solutions but Creo will talk about "Networked Graphic Production". This might be a more relevant set of concepts for a hard copy show. The approach in the Workflow Theatre seems to take the role of digital print for granted and to be moving on to include how digital workflows relate to litho.
Printweek continues to cover the speculation over Heidelberg's future in digital print. Page 11 (2 Oct) features a CAP Ventures study that concludes a move away from digital is unlikely. "We see no evidence that the company's current management team would choose to take such actions." At the Digital Print World conference the discussion will have moved on from whether digital printing is part of the mainstream. Heidelberg will need to address other issues as well.
The next couple of months could be interesting.
Will Pollard
will@exetreme.com
WWWatford - blog style updates
This page is for notes etc. that may get into the main pages later. Also for bits that are more clearly my own opinions. Feedback welcome will@exetreme.com Will Pollard
There is another blog at //ipex2002.blogspot.com . That one may be updated more often but this one has occasional graphics.
Below, Martin Bailey
(photo CIP4)
