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© 2003 by Rick Altman. All Rights Reserved.
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One of my most rewarding business experiences is connecting with fellow users of the software that I use regularly. That is why I have been hosting CorelWORLD all these years, even though a more general graphics conference would have been a much bigger draw. That is why we debut PowerPoint Live this year, even though a conference on all of Microsoft Office would be more lucrative. There is just nothing like meeting others with whom you share a common destiny. And while newsgroups and email lists are valuable aids, nothing compares to meeting people in the flesh.
And if meeting your peers is a nice experience, meeting them 7,000 miles from home is an extraordinary one. And that is why I place in such high regard the opportunity to speak at Bob van Duuren’s Graphics Mania. His two-day event attracts CorelDRAW and Ventura Publisher users from Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom. And one Canadian—Allan Shearer, the former product manager for Ventura Publisher. And one American.
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There were many languages spoken at the event and I felt a tangible sense of guilt at the notion that just about everyone there was able to converse with me in English, while I couldn’t say more than a few words to them in their native tongues. But there were a few shining moments in which words were not necessary. A couple conversing in German kept referring to a phrase that sounded like “font box” and another that I interpreted as “substitution.” While the German language has its own word for that, many words that show up on application dialog box make their way into the lexicon of other languages. |
I took a chance that they were troubled by the Panose Font Substitution dialog box and walked up to them with my notebook computer on and the Panose box open. “Ja!” said the man. “Ah!” said I, as I proceeded to open Font Navigator and make the universal “a-okay” gesture of thumb and index finger forming a circle with the other three fingers outstretched. I pointed to the F1 key, we each smiled, and shook hands. It was tremendously satisfying to know that Corel users could communicate, relate, and share a moment without the aid of a common language.
No question about it, many of the experiences that we refer to as quintessentially Corel cut across cultural lines. And it came as no surprise to me that font management was one of those issues. Users from all countries strained to understand me in English during that presentation, so motivated were they to learn about potential solutions to the I’ve-installed-500-fonts-and-now-everything-is-slow syndrome.
And I can now say with more confidence than ever before, Ventura users the world over want better integration with Microsoft Word. It’s not just here in the United States that Ventura gets passed over for big projects because the finished files must be Word-compatible, or at the very least, be able to make peaceful roundtrips to and from Word. And you thought Quark Xpress was the competition...
The same holds true for DRAW. One new user was amazed at the power and the breadth of version 11 of DRAW, never imagining that a single application could do so much. And this is before she even made her way into PAINT or RAVE. But just like here in the States, her enthusiasm waned when she was shown features that simply did not function as advertised. “It does so much, but it promises so too much," she said in broken but nonetheless completely insightful language.
That the event went off without a visible snag is a credit to all involved, because oh boy, was there an invisible snag: a minivan full of conference supplies was stolen overnight before the event began. Software, signs, banners, name badges, prizes, keyboards, mice...everything except for (thank heavens) the presentation computers and projectors. So who needs a bunch of stinkin’ badges—the doors opened on time and everyone was the better for it.
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Sibling act: Speaker Erwin Brink and Mania co-host Karin van Duuren. That Erwin could smile for a photo shows indomitable spirit. It was his van... |
At one point that morning, Bob and Karin shared one of those “never again” moments that I have experienced on numerous occasions when the rigors of staging a conference seem too daunting. I hope they can exercise editorial license over their memories and recall only the good things about Mania ’02, of which there were many. Their event is a rewarding opportunity for me to reaffirm just how strong the bonds are within the Corel user community.
There is, however, one deep cultural gap that I might never be able to traverse. We had wonderful dinners in Amsterdam, sampling cuisine of many tastes and lands. But I don’t think I’ll brave the desserts...
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From an Indonesian restaurant in downtown Amsterdam... |
Copyright 2003, All rights reserved. Have an opinion? Share it with the Corel community at the CorelWORLD Forum. There is already quite a bit of discussion about this story. Join in.
May 2007: As simple as possible, but not simpler... · April 2007: Killer Keystrokes · March 2007: Resolution Confusion · January 2007: Fearless Forecasts for 2007 · November 2006: Epiphanies at PowerPoint Live 2006 · August 2006: Escaping Death by PowerPoint · July 2006: Notes from the Floor of InfoComm · June 2006: Beyond PowerPoint--Making Movies for Business and Pleasure, Part II · May 2006: Beyond PowerPoint--From Photos to DVDs · April 2006: It’s Your Music!--Overcoming the oppressive restrictions of iTunes · March 2006: CorelDraw X3—A few must-haves and a few missed opportunities, all in all, a credible upgrade · February 2006: Making Windows Inhabitable · January 2006: Fearless Forecasts for 2006 · September 2005: Just What is a Background Anyway? · August 2005: Meet David Dobson, Corel's New CEO · July 2005: Community, Blind Dates. and Albert Einstein: An Interview with the PowerPoint Live Conference Host · June 2005: CorelWorld 2005: Image Editors, Executive Appearances, and Krispy Kremes · May 2005: As Adobe's Shadow Grows, Is Corel Better off or Worse? · March 2005: Delivering Your Presentation: How Close to the Source Can You Get? · February 2005: Digital Photography: The Killer App of this Generation Part II · January 2005: Digital Photography: The Killer App of this Generation · November 2004: A Killer Deal for Corel Or Another Distraction? · September 2004: The Scourge that is Kazaa and AOL Instant Messenger · August 2004: The Golden Triangle: Presenter, Audience, and Slides · July 2004: A Blast from the Past: How Fast is Fast Enough? · June 2004: Guilty Pleasures · May 2004: A Personal Wish List for PowerPoint 12 · April 2004: Eyedropping: Version 12 makes a good tool even better... · March 2004: Deadly Sins Of Modern PowerPoint Usage · February 2004: Is the even-numbered curse finally over? · January 2004: Another take on Achieving Absence of Ugliness · November 2003: What can we do it again??--Debut of PowerPoint Live Leaves Unquenchable Thirst with the Host · September 2003: Corel Corp. Has a New Custodian · July 2003: Candor and Contrition at CorelWORLD · June 2003: What a Long, Great Trip It’s Been! · May 2003: The Boat that Corel is Missing · April 2003: No Fooling...Is Corel Breaking Up? · March 2003: The Annual Design-a-Brochure Contest · February 2003: Symbolism is Everything · January 2003: Mania, Our Semi-Annual Pilgrimage to Holland · October 2002: On Creativity, Problem-Solving, and Paper Bags · July 2002: CorelDRAW 11: Surprise, Surprise... · May 2002: The Sound of Silence: What does it mean when a company plays its cards so close to its chest? · April 2002: The Art and Science of Presentation Graphics--Creating for the Screen Has its own Challenges · March 2002: CorelDRAW 11: What kind of personality and attitude should a software program have today? · February 2002: Oy, my aching fingers... · December 2001: Digital Photography · November 2001: Can we say goodbye to the Rolls Royce Mentality? · October 2001: An Unforgettable Week: The drama that unfolded around CorelWORLD · August-September 2001: The Art of Paragraphics: New-age ingredients for success with Corel VENTURA · July 2001: Your Very Own Interface: How to make Corel applications read your mind · June 2001: Fighting the Font Wars: How to stay sane with your sans · May 2001--Turning the Key at Nicholas-Applegate · April 2001--A Modest Proposal for Reviving VENTURA Publisher
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