AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER, I am to some degree at the mercy of Adobe ("The Other Microsoft," November '95, page 21). Although I don't use a single Microsoft application, I can't help but feel the negative impact Microsoft has had on the computer industry's ability to move forward. And yet I am completely comfortable with the control Adobe has over the publishing market. Adobe has earned it. PostScript is the standard for all digital typesetting, and Adobe invented it. It wasn't bought from a small company that didn't know better.
Microsoft's programs seem to get more and more stagnant as time goes by, but I am consistently impressed by programs such as Photoshop, which get more and more powerful with every upgrade. It seems Adobe has also recharged PageMaker in a way only it could, restoring innovation to a program that has been resting on its laurels for too long.
The fact that innovation can still be found down there in Mountain View after all these years is a testament to the quality company that is Adobe Systems. That's much more than we can say about the folks up in Redmond.
Brendan Bolles
mrb@server.berkeley.edu
THERE IS ONE OTHER major difference between Adobe and Microsoft that I see -- the quality of their products. I recently purchased Adobe Premiere 4.0. Unlike recent Microsoft upgrades, Premiere does not run any slower on my Quadra than earlier versions I have used. Its software also seems to conform to the Mac user interface rather than forcing its own interface on an operating system that already has a better one.
