Some time ago, I created a list of alternatives to Adobe’s and Microsoft’s key software offerings. A filmmaker by the name of Joris Hermans created a video featuring a nice list of Adobe alternatives.
I’ve explored a few of these, but most are unfamiliar to me. I want to explore them, but it will be challenging to do so in the near future.
Have any of you explored any of these tools? Oh, and Joris closes with a request for Acrobat alternatives. Do you have any suggestions? I’d love to hear them, and I’m sure Joris would, too.
Ah, OS/2! In the early 90s, I worked on a project for a Seattle stock brokerage, where we were digitizing key records. And, to be clearer, scanning them. This project’s systems needed OS/2, and it was my first introduction to this operating system.
It wasn’t well known at the point, but I was aware of it’s existence. I was intrigued and interested in exploring it. As I think back, my main takeaway: the system was quite stable. I spent very little time dealing with issues, blue screens, or other bugs. It seemed, in retrospect, to be a solid OS.
I have no recollection of using it anywhere else, even though I spent the 90s working myriad projects with many Seattle area companies. Odd, looking back. Odd.
YouTube’s algorithm served this video up today: “The Fall of OS/2”.
It provides lots of insights into how the product failed. And, the story doesn’t paint IBM of the 90s in a good light. It seems the main factors are marketing and leadership incompetence, exacerbated by some petty internal politics. These seem to have been larger factors that Microsoft’s efforts.
I haven’t thought about OS/2 in years. After watching this video, I lament its loss. What would the modern OS environment look like if we’d had a viable non-Microsoft OS on x86 systems? Sadly, we’ll never know.
A few days ago I disparaged poor Microsoft Publisher. Now, I really meant nothing by it. Publisher is a fine desktop publishing software package…for what it is. Far lower prices than InDesign for one. Also, if you’re familiar with Microsoft Office’s structures and navigation, the user interface will be rather intuitive. I’ve created posters, flyers, newsletters and postcards with it. Again, it’s fine for what it is.
My history with desktop publishing goes back into the 80s and Pagemaker. For DOS. Iterated through a few programs to Quark. It was fantastic to do paste up work digitally. Everything in one file, delivered directly to a printer. Back then, it was mostly on Zip drives.
I’m remembering the launch of InDesign. It was nice to have photo editing in the same ecosystem, essentially the same program. And very quickly, or so it seems, InDesign took Quarks’ lunch. (Ok, you can still order Quark) so that’s the atate of the, as the cool kids call it, industry.
So, Publisher is great, I’ve used it a lot. But I’m glad I have access to InDesign. And that’s all I got.
One of the great things about a new job: learnings. This one is no different. I love learning new software. Well, AutoCAD really isn’t “new”. But the last time I did any real work in the product was, well, a version for DOS. Yeah, it was on a computer running Windows 95, but still….
Anyway, with another staff change, my need to KNOW AutoCAD shot up immensely. Got to love added stress!
It’s fun, but crazy. No panic…not yet, at least. And I have a strategy, so there.
