Digital BW, The Print

Jon wrote:

>I just remember conjecture.
>
Some people just refuse to admit being wrong..

Here's the quote from that very link I provided..

"My sources had recently told me that Bowhaus has AT LEAST temporarily
shelved active development of a Windoze version of IJC/OPM. (reportedly
at least UNTIL they recoup some of the $ they have invested in initial
product development - whatever that means). [I've been too busy with
movie and election work to post about this until now.]"

Sounds like more than conjecture to me..

But I'll go a bit further.  I consciously held back from saying more in 
the hopes that my sources were wrong..  In some ways, I would actually 
have preferred to be wrong about this.

>Unless they had a contract regarding those decisions, that is their own
>problem.
>  
>
Agreed.. However, the promise is there in the link they provided..  They 
broke a promise, that's unenforceable as a legal matter, however, it 
speaks volumes about whether to trust future pronouncements from any 
source that does so.

>People make mistakes all the time.
>
Certainly, and I admit mine when I make them, funny how Bowhaus hasn't 
cared to update the public on where that Windoze version is...

But,  when you make mistakes publicly, the public duly notes it..

>I'm impressed.
>  
>
If so, you might have listened 6 weeks ago..

> Don't forget OSX.

Fine, add in OSX, as I said, I admit MY errors when they are pointed out..

It's still a minor total compared to the WinTel world..

>The UT inkset works great.
>
and  UT2 is where development is going.. I wonder if  that's simply 
coincidence?

and when a new inkset comes out that is better than the UT V2, what 
then?  It's inevitable, the technology is progressing quite rapidly..

>If people want to make it work bad enough, they will. Network a cheap
>Powerbook and stick it on a shelf. Last shop I worked in had the retouching
>Mac stations networked to a dirt cheap PC running the Cone rip for the 9000.
>  
>
yada. yada yada..  The vast majority of people don't buy a whole 
platform to run one app.  Especially such a niche app.  Talk till you 
are blue in the face and that won't change a whit.. That point has been 
made by others on here as well..  (Along with the almost idiotic attempt 
to paint it as Windows users "jealous of the fact that an app was Mac 
Only for a change")   The fact is, the more users who can use it, and 
Windows would have opened a vastly larger potential market, the more 
inksets and printers supported we might have seen...  I'm interested in 
more options, not less.. In net, is the failure of that promise good or bad?

A "few shops" aren't what pays for the Cone RIP to be produced, nor for 
the investment of time money or energy necessary to support a particular 
piece of software with compatible hardware...

>There is no evidence that anything has changed. If it has, and contracts
>have been written up, then I'm SURE someone's lawyers will be jumping down
>someone else's throat.
>  
>
I have no information on contracts and if I did I wouldn't broach it 
publicly anyway.. But there sure is evidence that things have changed 
since that press release came out..  There is NO news of any Windoze 
version in the foreseeable offing.. Unless you are telling time by a 
Wilhelm archival scale, I'd say no offering in 9 months when it was 
promised "SOON" is significant news.. Just as it is significant when 
MicroSoft pushes back a delivery date for XP or Win2K by a quarter or 
more..  In this case, there's nothing but "soon" still available.  I'm 
actually wondering how long it'll be until that Press Release is altered 
or disappears from the Bowhaus site.. (of course, just as I did with 
EPSON and their pronouncements, until they admitted the Orange shift was 
real, I've saved a copy locally for future reference)

More evidence of change? MIS announced a soon to come software this way:
" Soon we will have a new software package for making B&W Prints. It 
will initially be for Mac computers only."
http://www.inksupply.com/index1.cfm?source=html/new_prod.html


and support for Bowhaus/QTR this way:
"These inks do not use the Roark workflows, only Bowhaus or Quadtone 
Rip. It is the direction for the future. "
http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/whatsnew.html

The very fact that we are getting the UT v2 inkset as a Roark workflow 
product says a lot to me..

Additionally, as a legal matter, a promise is never a contract, as it 
represents only one-half of a necessary exchange of value. So, no-one's 
accusing anyone of breach of contract..  Just a heretofore unfulfilled 
promise.

More importantly think about this.. Do you really think that vendors who 
held back only to be burnt/let down will go down that road with Bowhaus 
again?  Two adages come to mind:

"Once bitten, twice shy"

"Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me."

> Um, great, juvenalia.

Hey, it's somewhat satisfying, even if juvenile,  to be able to say 
"nyah, nyah, nyah, told ya so," once in awhile - especially given the 
grief I was given for having the temerity to broach the issue last month.

> Is that content in the public domain, or is it covered
>by copyright?
>  
>
It's less than 30 seconds.. It's been part of the EPSON orange-shift 
site for well over 3 years. Beyond which it is used both here and on the 
site as editorial commentary (criticism, in fact), placing it squarely 
within the doctrine of "fair use."  Even so, not  a single copyright 
holder has shown up to date.. If they indicate it somehow violates their 
copyright I'll remove it.. I didn't code it, I didn't record it.. But if 
a copyright holder presents themselves with a formal request I'll remove 
it..


>Is it really necessary to include all of this...? Makes the digest really
>long.
>  
>
It's shorter than the disclaimers Companies attach to their postings, or 
the disclaimer that all posts to this forum receive automatically.  Fact 
is, I caretake those two lists, they are great communities and I am 
grateful to them for what they mean to the inkjet business.

Look, I have NOTHING against Bowhaus, its staff or owners, all I care 
about is news of what's going on in the business..  If that news is 
positive, fine, if it's negative, so be it...  I don't make the news I 
only report it..

I was hoping for a Windows version because I saw great potential in it 
for all users.. More users would have meant more supporting products.. 
and so on..  If I was wrong to hope for that, so be it..


 
Keith Krebs

"Just some guy," caretaker of the Multiverse's largest EPSON printer 
User Community (highly recommended by Vogon Poets and MegaDodo 
Publications), at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EPSON_Printers/
and  the Multiverse's largest Canon printer User  Community at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Canon-printers
"For the rest of you out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together 
guys"