CSotD: Technical Difficulties
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What better, on the day after my blogging site goes down, than this delightful Jen Sorensen rant about Adobe's toxic lock on graphics and layout?
Not only does it continue the theme of our vulnerability to other people's technical problems, but continues the insights into inner workings. (If you missed yesterday's posting, please scroll down — it's about how I collaborate with artists.)
Last week, Adobe's Creative Cloud crashed for about 24 hours and there was consternation among tech and graphics people, but it went largely unnoticed elsewhere, so, to some extent, this is insider baseball, but, as Jen suggests, the blight is spreading and so you should probably keep reading.
Adobe is the source of Photoshop, which quickly overwhelmed Corel as the absolutely dominant graphics program, and InDesign, which has, in the past decade, replaced QuarkXpress as the dominant layout program, as well as some other highly used programs and formats like Illustrator and Acrobat.
There are other graphics and layout programs out there, but the overwhelming majority of people who do this stuff for a living use InDesign and Photoshop for a variety of reasons beyond not understanding the benefits of off-beat, open-source programs.
(Anyway, if everybody "got it," the Tour de France would be contested on recumbent bicycles, wouldn't it?)
So, having become the 800-pound gorilla, Adobe decided that its top programs would, henceforth, be bundled into the "Creative Suite" and housed on the "Creative Cloud." The advantage, according to them, is that you would always have the latest version!
The real advantage was to Adobe, because most mid-sized and small companies, and the vast majority of freelancers, had, out of economic necessity, been holding onto their relatively expensive programs and skipping a few upgrades between purchases.
Adobe was solving that marketing problem by forcing everyone to continue to spend money with them if they wanted to keep using the programs at all.
There was a rush to purchase the last self-contained version of Creative Suite, and then the dungeon doors slammed shut.
So a year and a week after Adobe announced this new plan, their Creative Cloud crashed, and I was actually encouraged by the lack of uproar, because I think it shows the number of companies and individual creators who have not yet been extorted into adopting this piratical system.
But, as Sorensen suggests, the day is coming. The dual-speed Internet scam will impact more individuals sooner, but the rent-to-never-own system will ultimately cost content creators and hobbyists far, far more.
For my part, my use of the cloud (in general, not Adobe's Creative one) is pretty much limited to passing things to clients via Dropbox rather than FTP. It's not that I don't trust their security in the sense of someone peeking at my stuff, but I don't trust the various vendors to (A) stick around or (B) not screw up and lose it.
Or suddenly decide to hold it all for ransom.
And I have a fairly recent version of Quark (v.9 of 10), as well as a client-supplied copy of Creative Suite, but only version 3 of 6 or, now, "infinity."
If the client upgrades to an InDesign level that is no longer compatible, we'll have to discuss the issue, but I don't do anything whiz-bang enough to need a more advanced version of Photoshop and I actually prefer Quark for layout.
*shrug*
Meanwhile, I'm exploring a more reliable host for this blog. We shall see. Again,I do encourage you to read yesterday's posting if you missed it.
Now, how about something that matters?
Terri Libensen, whom I shall see — and you should see — this fall at the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning, has launched a story arc in "Pajama Diaries" about young girls and body image.
I don't think this is an issue that can be overdone, because it's not just the absurd dimensions of Barbie dolls. I get the impression that the jr high fashion fad of bare midriffs and push-up bras with scoop necklines is beginning to fade, but Princess culture for little girls remains at a high pitch and the pressure for girls of all ages to meet impossible standards has not slackened in the least.
I'm not a conspiracy buff, but the fashion industry does, indeed, have a headlock on this issue. The advertisers may not collaborate on this, but the women's magazines, from earliest days, are willing to not only Photoshop their models but to print out-and-out lies about the various makeup and hair products used by the women on their covers, in order to plug advertisers.
They also soft-pedal topics that undermine advertisers: The failure of the initially-spunky teen magazine, "Sassy," was only the most blatant example, as advertisers demanded they get on the perky bandwagon.
Heh. I misremembered the name and Googled "Savvy." SSDD. (Which stands for "Same Shit, Different Demographic.")
It's an uphill battle, but that's not a reason to surrender.
Speaking of Kenosha
John Hambrock, whose strip is colorized by the harp-slinging founding mother of the aforementioned Kenosha Festival of Cartooning, has been having a little fun this week in the lead up to the National Cartoonists Society's annual conference.
Those are the first two. Here's where to go for the rest.
Speaking of whom
Oh, the segues just keep on comin' today, don't they?
You need this book. It's not out yet, but you can beat the rush.
And while you wait for it to arrive, put on some music and have a nice cup of tea.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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