No Boundaries

I must admit that I’m getting more and more exasperated with the Apple v Adobe war that has been raging for about a half of a year now. I’m sure that I don’t have any idea as to the direction that the Internet may be taking in the near future and I’m equally sure that no-one else does either. I think that the original scheme was that the internet would become a set of pipes which delivered expensive curated content to a few walled-gardens where those loyal to the particular hotel-keep would consume in contented oblivion while shelling out a considerable sum on a monthly basis for devices, connections, apps, emags and eshows, bumpers and all other necessary appurtenances. Beyond the walled gardens would be a virus-ridden, porn-infested, aesthetically-unappealing hell that best be left alone by any of any common sense. The internet would be third-world in character, as if crafted by the likes of Joan Didion or Somerset Maugham.

Google and it’s Android have busted this all wide open, sending Palm into the arms of HP and everybody else back to the drawing board. Long live liberation.

This would be good and nice, were it true, but it is complicated by Apple’s success in widely distributing both the iPad and the iPhone, the failure to launch, thus far, of all but a few Android devices which can hope to rival Apple’s creations, and Adobe’s failure to fully grasp the true condition that it’s condition is in.

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Warning:  This is a long and boring post.

It’s been a few months since the Fall ’08 release of Adobe CS4 and I’ve moved slowly through the various learning curves of the Design Premium products.  I’d like to preface my thoughts with a few statements.  I use both Windows and Mac operating systems at various times, mainly having to do with whom I’m working for or with.  The Adobe interface is generally the same on both platforms.  However many of the programs in the creative suite perform differently on the two platforms and the version of the operating system being run.  I’m not a participant in the Window’s versus Mac debate.  I think they both have upsides and downsides and leave that to the really big thinkers.  I work with mining companies sometimes and they simply don’t do the Apple thing.  Next, I’ve been an Adobe devotee of sorts for a while now.  So I come to every new release with a real sense of jump-up-and-down, yippie, it’s-Christmas-morning giddiness.  And, last, I use the Design Suite only, though I’m toying with Flex.  Where it falls into the system that Adobe uses to organize its products is somewhat unclear to me.

Now on to the brass tacks: Continue reading