Emerging markets for Software

Microsoft is hoping this program and others will help the company reach more of the 5 billion people who have yet to benefit from the PC revolution.

OK... what can Corel learn from this? Initial "mind share" is everything.

Set aside pricing for the moment, whether the software is free or 399.00 USD.

When a human gets comfortable with a product, especially one as deep/powerful/complex as CorelDRAW, their enthusiasm to learn a competitive package wanes. There are only so many hours in a day.

Corel already has surprisingly good success with global sales. The logic of the program appeals to many people across many cultures who see the real value in the product. These people don't swallow marketing hype or buy software for fashionable reasons. They just need to get real work done.

If Corel plans this carefully, they could watch and learn for what works for MS and what doesn't. Or, develop an exclusive partnership with MS for this venture, leaving Adobe out in the cold.

Large Format CMYK Swatches

Is it Orange Red... or Red Orange? Let's face it: the stakes are high when printing to large format output. If the colors are off, it's a major expense. Not only in materials, but in time too.

When colors are a little off on a digital color copier, you can adjust the color in the file and print off another complete example (in about 120 seconds). Not true with large format... it's tedious and expensive to experiment with color to get things right.

I've painstakingly laid out more than 3,000 CMYK swatches, specifically for large format output. Also included are 99 grayscale swatches from 1% to 100%!

Go see the details.

Crazy work ethic, or old age setting in?

I'll admit that I look at a computer screen about 14-18 hours per day. So when my right forearm started feeling like limp spaghetti, and the tips of my fingers started to tingle, I sensed something was awry.

After reading about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, it looks like I'm a candidate for it. Foster suggested I dig out my Wacom tablet and use that instead of a mouse. So I did.

It's frightening to be knocked back to 50% productivity, esp. when you have the usual mountain of work to do. Being self-employed, I have no workers compensation insurance or paid sick days.

to avoid having a sawbones carve into my hands/wrists, I'm cutting back (no pun intended) to 10-12 hours a day. For a while...

Hopefully you never have this surprise!