Digital BW, The Print

>> Epson brought together a "Blue Ribbon Panel" to discuss marketing.One
>> the members, Andrew Rodney, told Epson (and the world) that the Gray
>> Balancer was "software from Hell". Funny thing is, Rodney is cofounder of
>> Digital Dog, who make profiles for money. (Can you say, conflict of
>> interest?) Subsequently, Epson decided to leave out the Gray Balancer.

I'm not only the co-founder, I'm the only founder. Bottle washer, cook, 
accountant, receptionist and so forth. 

Naturally someone that isn't very educated about the events of the meeting 
would jump to the erroneous (and some would say harsh) conclusion that I 
didn't recommend the Gray Balancer because I make custom profiles 
occasionally for people that don't have the time, money or inclination to build 
their own. Apparently this fellow thinks ANYONE can make a living building 
profiles. What planet does he live on? Whatever. 

The truth is that profiles have nothing to do with my nor anyone else's 
recommendation to can the Gray Balancer. While a good custom profile will 
produce neutrals on an Epson 2200 that are the best of any Epson printer I've 
ever seen, the reality is that a Photoshop novice can produce far more neutral 
prints using a simple adjustment layer in Photoshop (cost nothing) than 
spending endless time fooling around with the Gray Balancer and wasting 
god knows how much paper and ink. Even a fool like the above poster might 
be able to do this in a fraction of the time it takes to read the PDF on Gray 
Balancer. I'm not sure, this fellow might move his lips when he reads <g>. 

If the dozen or so people who where asked to come to California from all over 
the country to discuss the Gray Balancer (among other topics) had a split 
opinion about the Gray Balancer, we might have something to discuss. 
EVERY expert (who by the way makes a living being an imaging expert in 
some form) agreed that the Gray Balancer should NOT be bundled with the 
product. There wasn't even a debate! 

It's fun to see some amateurs sitting on the side lines making a big deal about 
not having a utility that for the vast majority of users is just  a big "Hurt me" 
button! It kind of reminds me of the early days of imaging when users bitched 
and moaned that a product had a PDF instead of a manual. You'd think the 
companies doing this were drowning puppies instead of saving the land fill 
with paper (and admittedly saving some costs of the product). 

My advice to the Product manager was at first to post Gray Balancer to a web 
site for download with the clear message there would be NO tech support for 
the product. But now I think that Epson should just charge a fee for this awful 
piece of software so that those that are complaining can put their money 
where their mouth is and start spreading the word that Gray Balancer isn't 
worth paying a penny for. Maybe then they will get on with their life's and 
make some nice prints!