Apple Said to be Talking With Microsoft to Replace Google on iPhone… (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aTsv9n41LCBM&pos=1

Bing has not looked bad as a search engine, this is very true. Wow, between Android, China and now this, has not really been Google’s week (Stock symbol: GOOG) – Conspiracy corner: Little know fact: Bill Gates made a huge investment in Apple, before Jobs came back on the scene in the late 90’s (1997)…. That’s right, Microsoft is (was?) a happy investor in Apple and literally may have saved the company at the conjuncture as well! See:
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-202143.html
Well, if you need desktop search for your Desktop Publishing file formats such as Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress, just let us know:
http://pagezephyr.com

It’s Friday; Microsoft Windows 7 just out, so I’m going retro, as in last years “I’m a PC” ad buzz -

“I’m Linux” (video).. sure glad we primarily use Apple Macintosh around here:

“Content is free. Formats are not” is the article’s title from cnet. Now, this strays away from purely printing, although content in the digital printing world and certainly the publishing sector faces a similar fate:

“Content may be free, but the format in which we buy it certainly is not. As Apple, Google, Red Hat, and others increasingly demonstrate, consumers and enterprises are happy to pay for “free” when packaged in convenient formats that add value to digital goods.
….
All of these (re)purchases strike me that the media world may have problems, but they are mostly of discovering convenient formats in which to deliver content. Formats that suggest, and sometimes demand, payment.”
….
Good content is a necessary precondition to getting paid, but it’s not going to be reason we pay anymore. That reason for payment is the format in which the content is delivered.
Perhaps it’s always been that way, but the physicality of the delivery mechanisms confused us: we were buying the paper but thought we were buying the news.”
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10369471-16.html  Read more... (348 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

By Vanessa Voltolina and Jason Fell

Publishers using InDesign to produce photo-heavy magazines now have two plug-in options that aim to enhance the photo identification and style conversion processes.

PUB2ID (Markzware’s Publisher document converter) translates the details of the content within a Publisher document and re-creates it within InDesign, converting page size, positioning, fonts and styles, text attributes, layers, and linked text boxes, as well as automatically extracts images embedded in the Publisher file.

Magazine publishing clients include the National Publishers Group and Rockwall, Texas-based Living magazine. According to AlphaGraphics lead graphic designer Bruce Harris, using the updated plug-in saves him between 15 minutes to an hour. “I especially like how it exports the images to a separate folder automatically.”

Read more

Markzware recently attended the Adobe CS4 Launch presented by MoGo Media in New York and Chicago. There, we met Matt, who gave us a video testimonial about  PUB2ID (Microsoft Publisher to Adobe InDesign), a document conversion solution, and how it helped him out ‘big-time’:

Convert Adobe InDesign into QuarkXPress 7 & 8 Documents

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA ANA, California, January 23, 2008 — Markzware (www.markzware.com), the leading developer of preflighting, data extraction and conversion software today released an upgrade to its highly recommended conversion tool ID2Q (InDesign to QuarkXPress). ID2Q v4 is created to provide a quick, easy and affordable method for migrating Adobe InDesign content into a new QuarkXPress document. This new version will convert Adobe InDesign documents up to Adobe CS 4 to QuarkXPress 7 or 8.

ID2Q reduces the barriers of entry to move data between formats.  Intricate details of the content within an InDesign document are instantly re-created in QuarkXPress. The ID2Q document conversion technology saves countless hours of scanning, re-keying and formatting. This product converts and transforms files created with InDesign on either the Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh OS, into a new QuarkXPress file, this file can then be opened on either platform which achieves a goal of allowing interoperability between the formats.

“We know our software plays a key role in the graphic arts community and ID2Q provides the users with the resources to convert their content with confidence,” said Mary Gay Marchese, director of public relations for Markzware.  Read more... (259 words, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)

By Chad Chelius

As an Adobe Certified Instructor and Adobe Certified Expert for Aquent Graphics Institute (AGI) Training (www.agitraining.com), I spend my days teaching folks how to use—and make the most of—creative applications, like those developed by Adobe Systems and Quark.

It is encouraging to see competition among creative applications, giving users a choice. Whether that competition is between QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign—or on the Web front, between products like Dreamweaver and Expression, or Flash and Silverlight—having a choice is a good thing for the market. It keeps the developers of those programs motivated to meet our needs. It pushes them to innovate quickly, but responsibly.

When InDesign came on the scene, it meant that graphic designers had a choice of creative applications, but also some new challenges. For new adopters of InDesign, the question became: What to do with all the legacy files that were created in QuarkXPress, or how to handle third-party contributed content that may be in the form of native Quark files?”

For Quark loyalists, the reverse was suddenly true, as well, with native InDesign files popping up in their workflow. And, for a while, there was really no real resolution or alternative than to simply rebuild files in one application or another, reassembling the document from the ground up.  Read more... (585 words, 1 image, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

Markzware recently spoke with Bruce Harris, lead graphic designer at AlphaGraphics in Cary, North Carolina, about some of the workflow challenges he faces in this role—including how best to deal with Microsoft Publisher files submitted by customers.

Markzware: Tell us a bit about your role with AlphaGraphics.

Harris: We design largely for print, with a fast-paced, production-oriented workflow. We design everything from corporate identities, all the way down to self-inking stamps. We also provide prepress services for client-supplied files.

Markzware: Do you advise your customer about how best to prepare their files, about what constitutes a ‘print-ready’ file?

Harris: Yes, we are in the habit of guiding the customer by suggesting file formats, as well as many other tips. We have documentation in place that we can hand out—or email, as needed. There are also times when we advise the client to allow us to create the files from scratch.

Markzware: How prevalent are Microsoft Publisher files these days? If you had to estimate the number of Microsoft Publisher files that come in, what would be the percentage in an average month?  Read more... (537 words, 1 image, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Dave Matthews heads up the prepress department at Progressive Printing, a Martinsburg, WV commercial printing facility. Long plagued by Microsoft Publisher files submitted by a typical (in the commercial art print poster world) customer base that’s ill-equipped and uneducated in the process of preparing digital content for print, Matthews discovered Markzware’s PUB2ID plug-in.  It should be noted that this plug-in also works for printable greeting card, printable business cards, printing posters, printable greeting cards, print postcard printing jobs, etc.
Markzware (the originators of FlightCheck) followed up with Matthews some months later to find out how the application had helped solve some of the conversion problems he’d been facing when dealing with Microsoft Publisher files regarding print art poster and art poster printing, and he was gracious to share his thoughts:

Markzware: When was the company founded?

Matthews: 1995.

Markzware: Is Progressive Printing’s clientele mostly local to the Martinsburg area? Or does your client base extend beyond the local market?

Matthews: About 60% of our clients are in the Martinsburg area. The other 40% is all over the US.  Read more... (787 words, estimated 3:09 mins reading time)

As with most large—and, often, geographically dispersed—corporations and businesses, the creative team at Weight Watchers Group found that it needed an effective way to bridge the gap between content creation and production for its numerous publications.

Markzware spoke with Donna DeMarco—the integrated marketing and publications manager for Weight Watchers Group, who oversees a diverse mix print and electronic media—about some of the challenges she faces with disparate workflows that cross over platforms (PC to Mac) and content-creation applications, like those that make up the Microsoft Office suite and Adobe’s Creative Suite.

Q: Can you tell our readers about your position with Weight Watchers Group, and about your day-to-day responsibilities in your current role?
A: The WW Group, Inc., located in Farmington Hills, MI, is a franchise of Weight Watchers International. Our franchise areas encompass southeast Michigan, northern Michigan, and Ontario, Canada. My responsibilities include coordinating special events—both in house and at outside venues—creating and managing content, designing marketing, communications, and advertising collateral. I’m also responsible for implementation of marketing campaigns, and act as a Web editor.  Read more... (933 words, estimated 3:44 mins reading time)