exetreme

BETT and learn9

2009-01-15T09:15:00.000Z

I will be at BETT today. More on learn9 blog.

The keynote, blog link so far

2008-12-03T11:52:00.002Z

So little time, so much to do. Several interesting sessions today so blogging is brief. Apparently the keynote can be summarised-

“group action just got easier” = 5-word summary of his book

More on blog for The Shifted Librarian

Just heard Karen Blakeman on free resources. She asked how many of the audience were on Twitter. Not many. Apparently people in the paid for conference are more likely to Twitter. What else is happening I wonder?

Online Information, no FT - ePUB ok

2008-12-02T14:05:00.002Z

At Online Information it appears to be true that there is no stand for the Financial Times. Not sure what to make of this.

Spoke to Bob Kasher, Director of Sales for the MPS Global Reader. His information is that the Stanza software for the iPhone has been downloaded half a million times and 20,000 books are downloaded each day. MPS now supoport the ePUB format and are switching all other content for e-books. I suggested this may change the idea of what a book is. How long a text is suitable for a mobile phone? He pointed out that the number 11 text on the Stanza numbers is War and Peace. Maybe people read a section at a time on route to actual paper.

Online Information

2008-12-01T08:42:00.002Z

I will be at Olympia this week. Publishing panel Thursday lunchtime.

No sign of Adobe. They are mostly into video now and the content at this show is still pretty much text. See Independent story.

Can't find the reference at the moment but I think the distinction in Adobe phases could be called Adobe Classic and Adobe (FLSH) . This is from a source I came across last week but now I am about to travel so will find the link later.

Adobe Classic and Adobe Max

2008-10-24T13:46:00.002+01:00

Exetreme has experience with Adobe software for presentation. Round about know the Adobe emphasis is switching to Adobe Max, a term for developments around Flash now updated to 10. Adobe Classic, a term for the print medium and flat documents, is of less interest for Adobe marketing but still remains a high proportion of what most people are working with.

Exetreme will explore alternatives and ways to save costs within the scope of Adobe Classic. This area is quite well known. More research will be needed on the innovation possible with Adobe Max. This may require more patience and experiment.

In both areas there is a major role for Open Source. PDF is now an open standard and there are many alternative ways of relating to the format. Many aspects of social networking started with Open Source and are now supported on Acrobat.com and other commercial sites.

Moo cards have arrived : blog link

2008-07-09T10:48:00.003+01:00

I now have some full size Moo cards. Previously they were about half size with just an email and a few details. Digital printing allowed each one to have a different photo. Spun off from Flickr or other photo sites. These have worked in a business context although intended for social networks as if these are not about business. The full size card is a Moo move towards the business market. The range of photos is the same, but slightly bigger.

Although I have put this blog on the cards, most of my posts at this time are for learn9 - learning with ISO 9000. Later on there will be more in this blog about how ideas can change practice.

Open Source and corporate services

2008-02-29T13:44:00.004Z

The scope of Exetreme covers both open source/co-operatives and proprietary software/large organisations. It is worth exploring whether both can be developed in the same timescale. Currently Adobe, Google and other software companies are attempting to work with an approach to social networking and open source. Some co-operatives are large organisations and the use of blogs and wikis is now spreading.

This week Adobe launched version one of AIR - the Adobe Integrated Runtime. The intention is to offer applications both online and on the desktop. Flash is central to the interface design. Previous approaches based on printed pages or similar design such as PDF can be compared and evaluated. Change could be quite slow but AIR is a significant event.

Some aspects of AIR are open source. See Wired blog for interview with Kevin Lynch. See also link through Acrobat Services for a view that software may become free for most users. Lynch mentions video editing online as a current example. Google already offers Docs and other applications as a free service though there is a paid option for larger scale and reliability. Google supports open source to some extent through links with Firefox and other projects.

So Exetreme can try to work in at least two modes. Open source is a starting point both as an environment for collaboration and a provider of much software. Companies such as Google and Adobe are a level of option before reaching Microsoft and others where there may be a requirement for some sites or organisations.

Recently I found Scribd for document hosting which appears to be free at the moment but can show Google ads. For those opposed to adverts there is usually an option not to include them. But advertising is an issue for people in co-ops and others. Scribd is one example of how to use Flash to extend the use of documents. Others will appear including Adobe Share, currently in beta.

For organisations working with print as well as online it may turn out that open source can now cope with a high proportion of requirements. Scribus can produce PDF to meet standards such as PDF/X. The Job Definition Format (JDF) is intended to fully describe requirements for a print job but so far the capability bof desktop software such as Acrobat has not been well explained. The open source developers interested in XML may be more effective in showing what is possible through a more integrated workflow.

Some pages were started while checking out links etc. Google Sites now possible but I still work through Docs and Groups. InXpress is registered so there is a site (InXpress started as Internet Express, the first internet cafe in Exeter). There is a version of Acrobat Connect called Brio on Adobe Labs. Limited to three people at a time. Let me know if you want to try it. Also We+ found through comments on news. There is a free version if storage stays low. Again, something to test.

Is there any buzz about PDF?

2007-10-03T11:44:00.000+01:00

This blog may have a range of views on it eventually. This is just my response to what I think is happening at MAX.

The PDF world has more or less vanished from Chicago so far as I can tell. MAX has always been a Macromedia event but now appears to be Adobe wide. I have written for the WWWatford site about MAX being a continuation of Macromedia and Adobe Classic being a term for what was Adobe, including the mysterious business unit for print and classic publishing. They may have their own marketing budget but if so they are spending it very carefully.

Collaboration has always been possible through PDF if enough people have access to the software. Somehow Adobe marketing vision seems to have segmented the PDF fans into a cash cow area and projected the Flash audience into a star future.

LiveCycle so far has been frighteningly expensive. It has only been promoted to a small group of large financial organisations and government departments.

PC World reports from MAX

"People are using Web-based content to collaborate in real time," Lynch said. "We have great experience with this, with client technology like Flash. We hope to deploy this collaboration in a way that will work for everyone."

Lynch said Adobe is leveraging its dual strength in providing Web technologies, such as Flash, and software such as Adobe Acrobat for sharing and collaborating on desktop documents, to compete in this market. With Adobe's Web technologies and hosted services, companies generally don't have to install new client or server software to collaborate, another thing that differentiates Adobe from Microsoft and IBM, he said.

Ron Schmelzer, [cq] senior analyst at research firm Zapthink LLC, said Adobe is still trying to figure out its business model around its collaboration services. But it has a great opportunity to create a new way for workers to collaborate that extends what competitors are doing.

"They're not trying to reproduce the word processor. They're trying to create a new model that changes the whole concept of sharing documents and collaborating with other people online," he said. "This market is theirs to capture."

Well, ok, but the PDF approach so far has been that companies have to install a lot of very expensive software on both client and server. The Acrobat Reader has long contained many features that are kept turned off until the server sends a suitable message. Maybe this was just part of a previous model. Macromedia Contribute was priced at a seat level such that it was not an option for most sites.

LiveCycle seems to be moving in a direction where both Flash and PDF will be included. It remains to be seen how affordable it will be. Perhaps collaboration will be possible through a range of business models.

Introducing Exetreme.com the blog

2007-10-03T11:08:00.000+01:00

Exetreme is a web design company based in Exeter, South West England. We have done sites previously combining Dreamweaver and PDF. This blog is partly to explore what is possible as a transition appears to be happening from a web based on text to a web that concentrates on video.

Adobe supply most of the software we use for design. From the current MAX event in Chicago it is clear that they see a future around Flash.

We continue to work closely with Psand for website hosting and technical service. Gradually their advocacy for open source is getting to us. As patented software moves towards video it is possible that open source is capable of meeting the requirements of a text web, including PDF.

We have worked with Psand and Acrobat Services on a proposal to eTEN on a research project. Psand have shown that bandwidth is possible using satellites and wifi. Interest continues in how people learn from PDF and the role of server software. The scope is now wider than PDF. The project continues and any feedback is welcome. Exetreme will offer services connected with the research.

For the text web we can suggest open source solutions but can also work with more expensive options if required. We will look at the new "rich internet" experiences but cannot claim familiarity until clients are interested.