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 I got into a very interesting email discussion with the head of Adobe's Public
Relations firm the other day about Photoshop. Our tech editor, Ed Ellers, had told her one of the primary focuses of Rainbow-PCM Reviews On-Line was for
SOHO, Small Office, Home Office, and she was a tad concerned that any review we would do of Photoshop 6.0 would be "missing" her market.
Actually, I am told we are viewed as one of the very, very few independent sites which does extensive reviews of graphic arts-type software – anything from image
editors to page layout and design; from plugins to animation and graphics. From my email I hear that a huge number of graphic and design professionals use our site to get a real, unbiased look at products they might buy.
But, at the same time, my email and telephone calls, also tell me that there is a huge market out there for these kinds of programs. In short, just because someone is not working 8, 10 or 12
hours a day as a professional graphics person does not mean they are willing to settle for something less than the best.
I'm reminded of Chava, the middle daughter to Tevya the Milkman in "Fiddler on the Roof,"
who, when being teased by her sister's because she wanted to marry the Rabbi's son, proclaimed: "Why shouldn't I want the best!"
In short, if you're doing a web site, an ad for your own (no matter how small) business, producing a newsletter for your church or just printing up some posters, there is no reason to
automatically assume you want anything less than the best. And, often, that means professional quality software.
You may not use all the fancy features, but if you want to do something, you want to do it. And,
often, you cannot do it, cannot produce the quality, without the top-of-the-line package.
I have a friend who produces a newsletter and web site for his neighbors in his cul-de-sac. A
huge circulation of about 15 people. He bought Photoshop 5.5 and NetObjects Fusion 4.0 early this year – and those were both upgrades from the versions he bought when he started this
project. Except for fooling around with retouching photos of his family and friends, that is about all he does with this software. Yet, he wants what he does to be good. And he's willing to buy the
professional quality applications to make it that way.
Let me suggest there are untold thousands of people just like my friend out there. In fact, I know
of a dozen or so right here in my little town: a local Pastor uses PageMaker and Photoshop for his biweekly church newsletter; the guy across the street uses Photoshop to enhance and "catalog" his
grandson's pictures; there's a lady a couple of blocks over who uses PageMaker and Illustrator to help her kids with their school reports.
I know because, now and again, they'll call me to ask "how do I do . . ."
The first time I heard from the Pastor I asked him, kindly, whether PageMaker and Photoshop weren't just a bit of "overkill" for what he was doing.
"Well," he said, "I was using (Product X) but it was taking me forever and I thought the result didn't look all that great. I can do this stuff in these programs in half the time and it looks nice. The
members of the church are proud of it."
He went on to say "you know, people today are assaulted by all this great stuff – TV
commercials, magazine ads, super mailers. There's a certain level of professionalism they are attuned to seeing. Even someone who dabbles has to keep up."
Indeed.
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