INSIDE THE PUBLISHING REVOLUTION
The Adobe Story
Book Review by Inge K. FischerWe all have been fortunate to live in and experience a time of the most interesting and sometimes breathtaking developments in science and technology.
While the time has to be ripe for any particular progress or breakthrough, and while practically all fields of endeavor interact and affect each other, it is sometimes interesting to learn in detail about one of the areas that have made rapid progress.
One such opportunity arose with the present book on the Adobe story, the story of a company that brought tremendous changes and new products to the publishing field, and in the process grew into one of the largest desktop-publishing software companies.
The book starts with the founding of the company in 1982 by two researchers, John Warnock and Chuck Geschke, who were increasingly frustrated because they could not bring their ideas to fruition in the large organization they worked for. The first product of the new company was PostScript, which truly came to be accepted through cooperation with the Apple Computer Company and it’s LaserPrinter, a cooperation that channeled Adobe into becoming a software rather than hardware manufacturer.
Each successive chapter of the balance of the book is fascinating in describing the further growth of the company and the beginning of what has been often called the desk-top publishing revolution. The decision to convert to a public company was based on the PostScript success and the steady income flow produced and caused the formation of a more conventionally structured business.
The next major product--through acquisition--was Photoshop, today the premier graphic arts software on the market. This was followed by Acrobat, which was intended as a technology “enabling the exchange and delivery of documents, anytime, anywhere, and on any device”. Adobe Acrobat and the required Reader took a much longer period of time to be accepted but now are probably the most widely used medium for the distribution of unalterable electronic files, independent of the hardware used. One crucial decision that helped to establish Acrobat worldwide was the free distribution of the Reader which we all now have on our computers.
The book describes the further expansion of the company through more acquisitions and improvements and many additions to its own products--like Page Maker, Frame Maker, PhotoDeluxe, and Photoshop Elements--and concludes with a brief outlook into Adobe’s expected future.
As might be expected from a book on the Adobe Company, the volume does more than only document a fascinating high-tech success story. It also gives just about the best examples possible of what modern publishing and illustrating technology can do to deliver and support a presentation. The book not only presents most interesting reading in describing the evolution of a new technology and the way scientists and engineers of various specialties and, sometimes, different companies interact and work together, but is also a delight to look at.
You also can enjoy this beautiful book when you visit our user group's library.Inside the Publishing Revolution - The Adobe Story
Pamela Pfiffner - Copyrighted 2003
Peachpit Press
1249 Eighth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
Phone 510-524-2178; Fax 510-524-2221
US $50.00 - CA$77.99