Washington Apple Pi Journal, July 1986

THERE'S A REVOLUTION GOING ON!
(OrSo They Say...)
by Stephen C. Warren
This is an amazing time, with revolutions going on all
over. There's a revolution of information because of computers,
there's a revolution in compact disk digital technology,
and there's even a revolution in South Africa, but we
hardly seem to bat a proverbial eye. Now, Apple Computer
announces a revolution all their own, and the pundits are
quickly laying claim to the misnomer "Desktop Publishing
Revolution", although I have my doubts when it's selfproclaimed.
Here's why....
When Gutenburg invented movable type, or whatever it
was he did, there was such a vacuum for printed material that
it naturally led to a first wave of the information society. The
only problem was, nobody could read! The scholars, who for
centuries depended on the hand-etched scrolls produced by
monks, suddenly found bound volumes of information to be
scarce and quite expensive, despite the technology. With
time, as printing presses became more abundant, the power of
the printed word took on greater force .... but producing that
printed word still took a lot of money, so growth was
sluggish. Books were status symbols of the wealthy, which
also signified a degree of worldly power. With the impact of
the great industrial society, the wealth of information grew
proportionally to the number of literate readers, and today, as
more and more people learn to read by the age of six or seven,
our world has become one where written words are so abundant
we have a hard time keeping them confined to books. The
streets, the subways, the skies are all smattered with written
words. So why the current rage about Desktop Publishing (D­
Pub)? What has Apple done that is so revolutionary? Are we
still not dependent upon the publishing powerhouses
concentrated in New England? Despite the power of the
independent publishers, distribution still remains the largest
obstacle to mass disemmination of news and information.
And those channels of distribution remain to be extended to
the desktop publisher, if the goal is to create a thoroughly
well-informed society.
Oh, I've seen the specialty book stores, and I've seen the
avant-garde newsstands, but truthfully, they're concentrated in
the major cities in this country. Until a better network for
distribution is established (and I'd argue that the computer
bulletin board is a much better medium of distribution for
publishers-ta-be), destop publishing will remain in it's current
state-that is, a nice tool for designing newsletters and
restaurant menus, but a low-end alternative for the average
user. Why? Just look at the price tag! For example, let's say
we hook up a Macintosh to a LaserWriter. That's almost
$9,000 if you pay full retail. But that's not all you need.
Any good publication deserves a hard disk storage facility, so
tack on another thousand at least. Since you can't get by
without pictures and graphics, shell out another thousand for a
decent digitizer and graphics tablet. If you want to be safe
from disk failure, get a back-up storage device ...anolher thousand.
If you want to hook up to the outside world, a modem
will cost you another two-to-four hundred. So that you secure
54
July 1986
your system from theft or malfunction, add on some more for
AppleCare, insurance and some hefty deadbolts for the office.
Okay, so I'm taking it to an extreme...but by how much? I've
left out the grandpop of 'em all: the Linotronic type processor,
starting at a mere S30,OOO. And if you're really into publishing,
that last item is A MUST! Remember, technology
teaches us to raise our standards, not lower them, and 300 dots
per inch is llill publishing quality if you want those rcally big
contracts!
So where do the pundits get off by pronouncing this
revolution "Publishing for the Rest of Us"? The rest of us
can't afford that type of gear! The lower classes arc already so
disenfranchised from the electronic village they've had to give
up on it completely! Ask a minimum-wage laborer what they
know of Compuserve, or even the low-cost alternative,
GEnic'? Come on now! This is first and foremost a proposition
for business, big and medium, but hardly small. I gasp
at the notion of mom-and-pop shops forking over the capital
for a desktop publishing station to revitalize tJleir fledgeling
restaurants and travel agencies. I realize sales are brisk. but
there are a lot of people out there making hefty payments on
equipment that's primarlily composed of plastic, glass, and a
little bit of metal. With an economy as diverse as ours,
justification for buying a desktop combo can be found around
every tum. But for the most part, publishers are a breed apart,
and account for very little of the total market Apple needs to
concentrate on. Finally they've hit on a good one: Engineers!
Why they didn't pump up the CAD/CAM division earlier, I1l
never know. Why then, tell me, why is everyone going nuts
over Desktop Publishing?
To date, I've read so many predictions about the effect of D­
Pub that I'm swimming in a pool of hysteria. Some say we'll
sec the downfall of the Evil Empire (aka: USSR) and all tJle
associated Iron Curtain countries. Why? Because they'll now
be voracious readers of underground publications, by way of
desktop publishing. Oh? You mean people in Poland, who
can afford one washing machine per lifetime, will suddenly be
publishing with S10,OOO systems'? That doesn't leave much
left over for printing, does it'? So Apple taunts us with the
option of moving the design studio, typesetter and printshop
right on top of a three square-foot area ....why the print shop?
Don't those Canon print engines sputter out afler about three
t1tousand copies? That's hardly a print shop. A Design
Studio? Sure, if you don't mind the jaggies! (Oh. You're
using non-bitmapped drawing software. Still a little clumsy,
eh?)
Ah! The Typcselter ... yes, I'm sure they have me on that
one. While I can get real typesetting for S2 per thousand
characters right over in Alexandria, I still have to wait a day
for processing after I send it to them via modem....it·s
regulation type, all right, but a bit cumbersome when I need
results in minutes. So t1tey got me on the typesetting
features.
Then there's the argument tJlat D-Pub will upset the
contd.
Washington Apple Pi