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Subject:Re: Ideas for inexpensive manuals - a follow-up From:Kat Nagel <katnagel -at- EZNET -dot- NET> Date:Tue, 2 Jun 1998 09:59:31 -0400
Eric Thomas wrote:
>However, now I need to find a printer,
> hopefully in the Chicago area, who has a DocuTech and is willing and able
> to do very small runs of manuals for a decent price.
Several of our local Kinko's outlets have Docutechs. There is also a Kinko's
Corporate Solutions office here that has arranged short run services for
several of my clients. Check for a similar service in your area.
>I feel like I'm hitting roadblocks at all turns.
> Some days I honestly wonder which is worse - being a Mac user in a PC world
> (in general) or being a PC user in a Mac world (publishing).
Either way, it's a real challenge to maintain a sense of perspective in the
middle of the holy war. Fanatics on both sides tend to be a
bit...um...self-righteous and inflexible. Just remember, computers are
-tools-, not objects of sacramental veneration. There is almost always a way
to get from here (PC or Mac) to there (Mac or PC, or---for that matter---UNIX
or OS/2 or...). Politely ignore all the people who try to tell you why you
shouldn't -want- to go there/do that, and keep asking questions until you
find someone whose eyes light up at the challenge.
They do exist. A colleague of mine once found a printer who was willing to
borrow a spare UNIX box from the college where he taught a couple of courses.
One of the grad students there donated a chunk of programming hours (over a
holiday weekend!) to make the UNIX system talk to the printer's pre-press
system to transfer the Frame files for a brochure+training materials that
another student had designed as a class project for a local nonprofit
organization. My colleague's client (the NPO) was stunned---they'd almost
given up and hired an ad agency to re-do the whole project.
It ain't always easy, but it's almost always -possible-. Good luck!
--
Please use the email address in my signature.
The address in the header (used for auto-reply) will bounce.
/K@
_______________________________________ katnagel -at- eznet -dot- net
Kat Nagel, MasterWork Consulting Services Rochester NY
Documentation / Templates / Conversions / Web site planning
"The transformation of calories into words, of words into money,
and of money into calories again are the three basic cycles in a
freelance writer's metabolism." /Mary Kittredge, _Poison Pen_
