My partner for the last 13 years is a graphic designer (and an excellent photographer to boot). As you may imagine, over the years, I’ve watched him use a successive number of Adobe products. I even periodically got cast offs myself – e.g., floating around on my system I’ve got a first generation InDesign that I had been working on my book in for a while.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that it doesn’t matter how fast his systems are, the one thing that will generally slow them down are Adobe products. The only time this isn’t the case is when he has 10GB of RAM or more.

But this isn’t just limited to the “pro” Adobe products. So when John Nack over at Adobe had the gall to say that Adobe are “sensitive to bloat”, I couldn’t believe that anyone from Adobe could say that with a straight face.

For goodness sakes, even Acrobat Reader, the absolute (should be minimalist) stable horse of Adobe is bloated and slow. It’s practically zombie-esque. You launch it and it staggers out of its directory/crypt, shakes off the spider webs, looks around for some fresh brains to snack on, begrudgingly brings up a window, freezes for a little while in case there’s a zombie hunter around, then eventually opens the requested document.

Then there’s Flash. That travesty of an animation product that’s actually electronic tar. You know what I do when I see a vendor using Flash for something I need to do? I clear my calendar. I quit every app I have to give the memory leaking sucker enough room to work for a while before crashing, then I sit and wait for it to do its best at trashing my systems. Honestly, the best speed up I got with web browsing was when I installed ClickToFlash for Safari. It makes web browsing a dream, and means I can actually go to the Sydney Morning Herald without 6-10 flash apps starting every time I go to the front page*. It’s amazing the number of sites you can go to and have a smooth clean web browsing experience when you’ve got Flash turned off.

There’s no excuse for such tired and frumpy software. Anyone with a Mac for instance will tell you how quickly Apple’s Preview launches and starts displaying PDFs. On the rare instances where you have to, for some esoteric compatibility reason, open Acrobat Reader instead, well, you want to go fix yourself a coffee while you wait for it to load.

Honestly, Adobe should maybe spend a year or two demanding that developers stop adding code and functionality, and instead learn some lessons and start subtracting code.

–
* SMH would undoubtedly argue that it’s a “Mac problem”. Honestly, much as I love that paper, it’s so anti-Apple that it’s a wonder someone hasn’t founded a Journalistic Bias Awards just to give them the inaugural golden bong for to celebrate whatever crap they smoke before they write stories about Apple. They make that insidious piece of online garbage, The Inquirer, look fair and balanced a lot of the time!

New Site makes it easier to find Adobe Courses

Adobe, the publishing and editing software for publications and graphics, developed by Adobe Systems in the US, is used by 82% of the UK’s business community on a day-to-day basis. Not only did Adobe software and services revolutionise how the way world engages with ideas and information, in a way that Adobe likes to call anytime, anywhere, and through any medium.

Taking a course in adobe will help you become more focused on the adobe program that suits you. Adobe offers a variety of programs and there are a number of training courses in all the Adobe programs, for you to develop your ability to work in programs such as Adobe Photoshop. In response to the great demand of Adobe courses, a new site is now operating to aid people in their search – and to make it easier to find the right course for them – see AdobeCourses.net now.

If you’re thinking about taking an Adobe course, consider also other IT-User courses that may make your daily computer usage that bit easier, for training-is-gaining and when it comes to IT you can never have enough skills training.

Adobe Systems announced the next release of Acrobat.com, which includes major updates designed to make working together across organizations easier than before.

This release simplifies the way people work when communicating and collaborating over the Web.

“There is a new update available for download (ver. 2.2.1). To install, click the link below.”

Ahh…updates. No, I’m not talking about me writing a blog post to say how much work I’m not doing, nor to ramble on about things happening in my life. I’m talking about technical updates for programs, hardware, software, and most importantly…operating systems. Because this is a tech post. And unless you’re a nerd, it will be boring. Go read something else.

Okay, so I’ve been beta-testing the new Microsoft Office 2010 programs for the past week. I have two words: HOLY CRAP. Microsoft, since they’ve fallen sadly behind Apple on the popularity chart, has to begin ramping up the actual quality of its products, because people don’t just buy Windows stuff without thinking anymore. And I’ve heard so much whining about the interfaces on the 2007 products in my own circles, I can’t imagine how many whiny, spoiled people complained to Microsoft about it themselves. (Personally, I really liked the 2007 change. It was new, well-thought-out, and gave a fresh rejuvenation to a very old and firmly-established product line.)

But when people got wise to the design flaws (tabs were sometimes confusing, buttons were placed oddly, less customization was possible, etc.) and began having Windows ME-like daymares with Vista, talk began to circulate of a savior to the common man oppressed by poor programmers: CollabNet’s OpenOffice!

OpenOffice is a free, community-driven suite of programs that run the MS Office files, Mac files, Linux files, and basically any other file you can possibly find on any computer since 1985. The suite contains equivalents for Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint, and Publisher, is compatible with almost every operating system, has peer-created content by the gigabyte, and is laid out just like the good ol’ days of MS Office 2003. Wow. What a great find. And best of all, it’s FREE. Yeah. Check it out here.

I’ll admit: I tried it. I already have Office ‘07 installed, and I already really like it, but I thought, “Why not?” Thirty minutes later, I realized why not.

(In my opinion:) It’s terrible. I don’t really know why. But it bugs me the heck out. Everything seems so…Linux. Which is correct, I guess, because it is. What else would be compatible with everything? The interface is old and decaying, the file extension process is confusing and not for surface users, and the running programs are hefty and awkward. Seriously, see for yourself. (If you like it, more power to you. If not, maybe you’ll agree with me on the next few paragraphs.)

I don’t think Microsoft will quickly release its hold on the word processing business. I know Apple is developing new software, and that Adobe is getting in on the cloud-processing, but Microsoft loves its money. And the Office programs can reach $680 for its “Ultimate” package. Huge business will buy thousands of licenses for these programs, and that’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit for the Gates kingdom. And now, with the server technologies developing into multi-billion-dollar revenue-generators, they’ve kept ahead of the game with their OneNote and SharePoint programs, their Office Live online suite and collaboration, and the release of betas for testing by the general public. It’s really incredible business.

Now, for a review of the Office 2010 beta:

Beyond satisfactory. Microsoft is beginning to impress me with their innovation. The new big thing is user themes (the user can create their own theme by selecting pictures, colors, module positions, etc. for their programs), and ‘10 now caters to that idea. The modules, very similar to 2007, are now much more user-maneuverable, and the options everything on the interface now offers are tremendously helpful. Searches have been streamlined to work better for less-experienced users, and return a wide variety of inputted results. Programs like Outlook now offer email string collapsibles, much like advanced coding programs. Contacts have the ability to be connected to and from popular social networking sites via developer kits and smart people. The tabular layouts have been kept, but dumbed-down for the more-confused user who can’t just look at pretty pictures. Word provides easy access to much-used properties; Excel looks excatly the same, but better; PowerPoint won’t confuse anybody anymore, ever; and Access is full of brand new awesomeness that I never actually compared to 2007. It’s probably exactly the same, too. But everything has the look of a cleaner, polished, “this isn’t a test anymore” program, and it’s about time, since Apple has made more headway in the last three years than probably expected.

If Microsoft wants to stay on top of the game in the upcoming battle for customers, they need to quit thinking like they own everything forever. Because even if they do, it’s not an excuse for lukewarm quality. And there’s plenty more companies willing to get in on the action when something bad happens.

A note to consumers: Don’t settle. Don’t ever settle. Look around for programs that fill your needs, and do so with the least amount of discomfort to your and your hard drive. OpenOffice is a great example of teamwork and Linux programming. Adobe’s Acrobat.com is good example of web-based word processing. I’ve been using it for over two years, and it hasn’t failed me yet. And there’s tons more freeware programs to check out. But personally, until I either have no money for Office, or someone designs the most beautiful alternative, I’m sticking with Mr. Gates on this one.

Sono cresciuta ascoltando quest’album.

Questo testo, in particolare, lo sento dentro.

Significa molto, per me.

Mi ricorda chi sono e cosa ho dentro.

Nel bene e nel male.

E che posso.

Ancora.

 Don’t believe what you hear
Don’t believe what you see
If you just close your eyes
You can feel the enemy
When I first met you girl
You had fire in your soul
What happened your face
Of melting in snow
Now it looks like this

And you can swallow
Or you can spit
You can throw it up
Or choke on it
And you can dream
So dream out loud
You know that your time is coming ’round
So don’t let the bastards grind you down

No, nothing makes sense
Nothing seems to fit
I know you’d hit out
If you only knew who to hit
And I’d join the movement
If there was one I could believe in
Yeah I’d break bread and wine
If there was a church I could receive in
’cause I need it now

To take a cup
To fill it up
To drink it slow
I can’t let you go
I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And don’t let the bastards grind you down

Oh, it hurts baby
(What are we going to do now it’s all been said)
(No new ideas in the house and every book has been read)

And I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And you can find
Your own way out
You can build
And I can will
And you can call
I can’t wait until
You can stash
And you can seize
In dreams begin
Responsibilities
And I can love
And I can love
And I know that the tide is turning ’round
So don’t let the bastards grind you down

(source : NouvelObs 11/11/09)

La société Adobe Systems, qui produit les logiciels Photoshop, Flash et Acrobat, a annoncé mardi qu’elle allait supprimer 680 emplois temps plein, soit environ 9% de sa main d’oeuvre.

La firme basée à San Jose, en Californie, avait racheté Omniture en octobre, supprimant alors 9% de la main d’oeuvre d’Omniture soit une centaine d’emplois.

Lundi déjà, Sprint Nextel avait annoncé entre 2.000 et 2.500 suppressions d’emplois et Electronic Arts 1.500 suppressions d’emplois. AP

Easy to fix.  Click here to read the Adobe article.

This past weekend, Jenn, Hunter and I were invited to go see some little show called “Ovo”.  It was put on by a troupe of acrobats called “Cirque du Soleil” or something – ever heard of them?  No?  Me either.   Even still, they managed to pack the performance tent with close to four thousand people and they put on one amazing show.

Honestly though, and without hyperbole, I saw things there underneath that tent that I didn’t think the human body could do.  Some of the acts were unbelievable because of the muscle control and flexibility required, while others were incredibly well choreographed and expertly timed.  All of the acts, however, were astounding because of the amount of physicality and skill packed into each segment: it was very likely that we saw some of the best acrobats and performers the world has to offer.  The entire show was amazing.  I could go on and on about how entertaining it was, but I don’t want to spoil it for any who may see this post before they see the performance.  Suffice it to say that I loved it, Jenn loved it and Hunter loved it and we are very grateful for the invitation.

We were not allowed to take video or photographs inside the performance tent, so I made a little video of my most recent run with the dogs instead.

I have Macromedia StudioMX 2004 installed on my XP machine. Of the four programs available, I only really use Fireworks.

Per Microsoft’s Windows 7 compatibility checker my version of Fireworks is not supported. No surprise here. They recommend that I get the latest version from Adobe. Hhhmmmm.

My Gripe With Adobe Acrobat Upgrades

I am not thrilled with Adobe. I think of Adobe Acrobat as a necessary evil in my life. As a writer, author and publisher I create PDFs daily … and have done since c. 1998. During that time Acrobat has given me more gray hairs than any other software application.

To be fair, the version of Acrobat that I now have, Professional 6.0.6 is the most stable I have had in the last 11 years.

In my reckoning the two Windows applications that cause the MOST problems on your PC are Acrobat and Outlook — and I am, here, NOT talking about the Acrobat Reader. I stopped using Outlook and Outlook Express about three years ago. One of the best things I have done in my life. I use Web-based email using the interface provided by GoDaddy. It works. And it doesn’t butcher the insides of my PC. I don’t have all the bell and whistles I had with Outlook, but I am willing to trade them for my PC not hanging or crashing.

Unlike with Outlook, I can’t, alack, just stop using Acrobat ‘creator.’

Other than the zillion problems I have had in the past … what is my latest gripe with Adobe. Their avaricious upgrade policy.

All I want is to be able to create PDFs, with all the options, from Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Web pages. That is it. Because of the book publishing, I need all of the options for image sampling, font insertion etc. But that is it. I don’t need forms. I don’t need review. I don’t need it to make me coffee or take my pulse. Just the basics.

So all I need is Adobe 9 Standard.

But, Adobe in their greed won’t let me upgrade to Adobe 9 Standard … because I have Adobe 6 Professional!

It is not the additional $60 per se, though that is an issue. I have been a bona fide, legit customer since 1998. I have a legit copy of Adobe 6. Let me upgrade to what I so.

So given this background, I wasn’t going to even look at the latest Fireworks.

The GIMP Web site seems to be asleep, though today I did find, THANKS to a tip from a new friend, that GimpStudio is alive and well.

FREE Paint.Net Via Microsoft

I also downloaded Microsoft’s FREE Paint.Net.

Yes, TWO free applications from Microsoft in a week … the other being SharePoint Designer 2007. It feels like the Twilight Zone. Working applications for FREE from MS. What is this world coming to. At this rate we could even end up having an African American president in the White House!

Paint.NET installed effortlessly on Windows 7. The whole thing took less than five minutes.

I looked up how to remove BACKGROUNDS using it on Google. There was an excellent YouTube video.

Fired up Paint.Net. Opened a JPEG. Wow. That thing WAS GOOD at removing backgrounds. Bravo. Made my day.

My only disappointment is that it is STRICTLY a raster (or bitmap) editor. So FONT capabilities are limited. I need more font capabilities.

So I looked at Corel PhotoShop x2 Ultimate. The reviews turned me OFF, especially the repeated claims of the built-in ’spyware.’

So … right now … I just have Paint.Net. Yes, I have PowerPoint. Having used PowerPoint as much as I have, I can create decent JPEGs with it. So maybe I will use PowerPoint for my font work.

So that is where I am at.

Hope this helps.

Anura Guruge
www.guruge.com

Conducting a thorough editorial, technical and content review of business and technical documents is challenging for many organizations, but a geographically dispersed workforce can make it even more difficult.

Here are some tips to help better manage document reviews at a distance:

Establish review guidelines. Truth be told, many organizations don’t know how to review and approve a document. As such, it is important to set out how you want your reviewers to check over each document. Your review guidelines should:

• Instruct the reviewers to follow procedures step-by-step. Tell them to point out incorrect steps and identify why the step is in error.
• Encourage the reviewers to look for better ways to present data, or identify if a different function or listing that would work better in the same situation.
• Instruct reviewers to check to see if the artwork (listings, figures, illustrations, tables) corresponds with the references in the text.
• Tell the reviewers to test  each line of program code and describe any problems.

Designate document stakeholders. Have a designated document stakeholder check over the document(s) undergoing review to help set review priorities and free up resources to ensure the document review happens on deadline. The stakeholders can also tie the document review into the overall project plan, if needed.

Identify primary and backup reviewers. This is a commonsense first step when project teams span multiple time zones, and even continents. If the primary reviewer is unavailable to resolve a question, then the team can always go to the backup reviewer.

Set a realistic review schedule. It is rare that a stressed and harried project team can make a full document review in just one pass. So depending on your project schedule, take the initiative to manage expectations and set a review schedule that ensures reviewers are going to add value to the documents they are reviewing.

Use online collaboration and version control. WebWorkerDaily regularly covers the latest in collaboration tools. Using one of these tools can help you better manage the review process with your team.

Use electronic document review tools. With Microsoft Word (s msft) and Adobe Acrobat (s adbe) you can mark up and comment on electronic documents just as you can with pen and ink on a hardcopy document — there’s no need to fax documents any more. If your team is reviewing an XML-based document, look towards a solution like LiveTechDocs (I reviewed it for WWD).

LiveTechDocs Application

How do you manage document reviews?

Image credit: svilen001 from sxc.hu.