David Milisock's Blog
https://au.marketo.com/
Never noticed this until a read today.
Marketo is more than just software - when you use it, you get a playbook for digital marketing success.
Not that I'm suggesting Corel should do this. Maybe worth finding a partner that's a "king" in this area.
Alternatives — Always looking for better than Adobe. financesonline.com/.../
I agree, I only use Acrobat Pro 9 anymore and that's because of the Adobe conforming PDF driver and Distiller. I us no Adobe graphics applications any longer and that has been for several years.
Forget this perfect product stuff.
That's not going to do squat. Except for you.
If they don't sort out the market share issue then it's light out. There is no phoenix going to rise from the ashes of bugger all market share.
Remembering everything thing else we have said...
The price of the product is too high and doesn't represent value when compared to either Adobe or Open Source solutions that have been in constant evolution.
This is because the company has been traded over and over and has been sold for an over valued price and now must set the software price to meet those expectations for a return on investment.
Love has flown the coop. I haven't seen much "personality". You can tell me what you think I mean.
It's not all bad. Just needs a reality check. Across the whole thing.
Giving away a bare bones version of CorelDRAW is a solution in search of a problem. There are already freely available vector drawing applications and PDF editors. Making a free version for print houses to use just to output files and edit text isn't going to work for numerous reasons. First, there is a lot more than can go into trouble-shooting CDR files than just fixing a typo. Print houses fall into the category of professional users. So even if a free version was practical for print shops the result would be a negative drain on CorelDRAW sales numbers.
And then the idea Fuji owning Corel is just pure fantasy. The digital camera market is in a pretty terrible state of flux lately, thanks mostly to damage inflicted by smart phone cameras. The DSLR market is goofed up on the professional and pro-sumer levels due to the obsession of selling mirrorless cameras and lenses for far more money. Fuji isn't exactly Nikon, Canon or even Sony for that matter. Even if KKR agreed to spin off Corel to a company like Fuji it wouldn't do much to solve any fundamental problems.
A neutered free version for print houses is a solution offered by someone who has no real concept of professional output for CorelDRAW.
After 30 years the base problems of opening a file is STILL missing fonts and for linking applications missing fonts and graphics.
Once a file is properly opened 99.99999% of output issues are incorrectly created complex fills, incorrectly utilized spot colors, incorrectly created transparency and low resolution and or poor quality embedded images.
These are all high end features that anyone who outputs Draw files needs to have 100% control over for quality output.
If I had a $5 bill for every CorelDRAW and Adobe PDF that gets RIPPED into a raster for output because of problems that can't be fixed, I could give up my pension.
How old are they RIPs?
I didn't say it had to be neutered in print and pdf features. What sort of fixes are you applying at that late stage?
You are a long way from the features needed by the creative department.
Really, there are a lot of jobs that are taken to some sucker to do stuff with that need some level of work.
Again it comes to workflow and owning it!
Let me try to change your thinking on this. If I can do that then maybe we have hit on some points.
#1 problem is market share, all issues stem from not growing market share.
Current method
Oh look some new things to make you wanta pay us X8 more than the value of Adobe Suit.
Not going to work is it! That's not going to grow market share. Your products become a Nokia.
What was so special about the iPhone/smartPhone?
It wasn't 1 technology, it was many technologies in one device. We could call it, because you could...
get GPS data and had a nice screen, you could display a map with directions and because you have voice to text give the driver verbal instructions and because you had bluetooth you could send that audio to the car HiFi...
They drew together the threads of technology.
Ya got get your thing on desktops. It doesn't have to be your best thing, it's just the things we give you for free. What would Microsoft Outlook have been like without Outlook Express, the free version.
And the way Windows and Draw were promoted was disk swapping. It's OK to eliminate it but with some agency of it previously having been a major promotion channel.
There's plenty of application action in the world. There's the dominate player, Adobe, with strong attachments, then everyone else. The solution comes from being able to make "everything else" work together.
Ignoring the bugs things for now.
If idiots want to believe that "Adobe" is the industry standard then form a group of software companies and call it an industry standards body.
It's obvious that you've never been in the output business, taking files from users and correctly outputting them in mass. The first thing to remember is that design shops, photographers, print shops, digital output providers are FINANCIALLY STRESSED, many to the limit.
First off RIPS, modern ones, under 8 years old exist as postscript and true PDF. The true PDF RIPs are the best but even they come in different versions. Good ones which nearly eliminate transparency issues start around $30,000, nothing but the software and maybe a PC. In general exclusively seen in print shops with print presses. True PDF for ink jets cost less and are less, this is where it gets nasty.
The RIP that ships with an inkjet is in general some form of postscript, in service are many that are still level 3, the latest ones are level 3 but still transparency issues abound.
Files that arrive for output are worse now then in 1986 because while the same silly exists now the applications are more complicated requiring more knowledge from the file creator.
If you strip CorelDRAW down it would have to be for the user and why would they bother? There are many other applications they can get that would then do the same thing. It would cost Corel a fortune to provide support so users could even try it, then avthird of those who now pay would see if they could use the free version.
I think the lockdown has affected you, . Have you not seen what's happened in graphics? In 1978 asca 4 color pressman I made more money per hour and with semi-annual bonuses I made twice a year what a pressman makes now. That's graphics 2021.
You are drifting into your own little world here. If you are concerned about transparency just render it to a bitmap in Draw. I've just given you a free application to do that. If you are paying $30K for a rip, it is because the machine it interfaces with is worth $200K and requires a custom programmed interface. Or you are just being ripped off.
Yes it's called a professional digital front end work flow. The package has a RIP, sometimes it comes with a PC, Rampage is one that comes to mind, then there's a preparation package usually included in the RIP that has multiple workstations, an imposition application and a trapping application, some have a proofing package, others do not costing another $15,000 with calibration equipment. However you pay for each package after the RIP. Then you need the plate setter, prosser and punch.
You might get away with as little as $45,000 but top of the line packages can go $100,000, depending it supports AM, FM or both screening. However the PC,s needed for the workstations tied to the RIP need to be bought.
Now you need a 4 color press with at least a coater, cheaper units $400,000 state of the art with extended oscillators 1.2 million. Then another couple million for the rest, building, and associated gear.
CorelDRAW, Adobe CC all create PDF files that support live transparency that can be edited at the RIP level, no need for additional graphic applications licenses. However you'll need at least 1 or more graphic workstations, color calibrated systems $3,000, with Adobe CC fees on top of that most shops have a few. CorelDRAW as far as I know is rarely supported anymore.
The above workflows catch all transparency issues in the RIP preview or in the proof
Sign printing/vinyl graphics is cheap in comparison to printing, art printing a bit more but you can get into 54" sign work for $15,000 plus the laminator, finishing gear and building. It gets a bit more if you do what I did with lift trucks, you can get 35 footers used for $30,000, new around $130,000.
Art printing at the 54" size starts from about $30,000 plus finishing gear another $10,000.
Non of these RIPS catch all transparency issues until you print. A real bite, but the truth is you and by that I mean YOU, need to know what to look for and how to sort the wheat from the chafe. You most times just get what you pay for.
You need to rip to plates using the same technology as ripping to a proof. What is being used to proof in the US?
Proofing quality in the U.S. depends more on the quality of the technician then on the amount of money being spent. RIP once output many processing systems start around $65,000. Global Graphics have good systems for that but more costly systems exist by press manufactures that will set ink keys.
Inkjet proofing being low cost has been dominant for well over 15 years. Even though they have no inks that have hues equal to process color inks. The processes get SWOP or GRACoL certification even though they don't use proper hues, which in my opinion is techno BS.
Those systems use inkjet proofers and again depending on the quality of the technician the proofs are pretty good at best. You will see some images look different on press. NONE of these systems are as accurate as the Kodak Approval system, where you laminated a CMYK film set based on an ink set directly on to the paper used for print. I know of no Kodak systems installed anymore.
A more low cost process uses the same RIP as used for the plate setter for proofing but requires re processing another RIPPED file. The variations of raster images due to rendering variations can and usually are more severe. Again inkjet proofing is used. These systems exist in most smaller CMYK shops withn29" or larger presses.
Today I'd estimate that 50% or more proofs are done by a digital display that's improperly color managed.
Remember in 1990 there were 141 printers, (large 38" presses and small 17" presses) in a 12 mile radius from my shop, now there 4. You do the math.
Murdoch bought Imprint, Press Etching, all the local newspapers, bankrupted book publishers by under cutting the price to print the phone books... all this years ago. Before we gave him to you lot.They all seem to be making a buck here. If you had a 4 color press 20 years ago then you have 4+ of them now.