Digital BW, The Print

Actually, no, these are BS reasons. Those businesses which wish to sell to
the metric market make metric products. Those who are satisfied with the US
niche make products for that marked. I said in a different post, but repeat
it here. There is a lot more to marketing to diverse cultures and countries
than the measurements that are used. Those other expenses far outweigh the
savings you have quoted. 

Companies will either decide to go the extra costs for this diversity or
they will forgo the markets. The bottom line is that the market place makes
these decisions, not idealists.

-Stephen
 www.sbillard.org/Stephen


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Frost [mailto:bob@...] 
> Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 12:36 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: OT - U.S vs. Europe paper sizes???
> 
> 
> Stephen,
> 
> Surely the obvious reason is that if American industry wants 
> to sell any 
> paper, paper-handling machinery - printers, copiers,  or 
> folders etc for 
> filing, it has to make two versions, one for its own market 
> and one for the 
> rest of the world. That costs.
> 
> Here's are some quotes from that article on paper sizes that I listed 
> earlier:-
> http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.html
> 
> "Globalization starts with getting the details right. 
> Inconsistent use of SI 
> units and international standard paper sizes remain today a 
> primary cause 
> for U.S. businesses failing to meet the expectations of the 
> global economy. 
> "
> "Users of photocopiers outside the U.S. and Canada usually 
> take it for 
> granted that the machine is able to enlarge A4 ? A3 or reduce 
> A3 ? A4, the 
> two paper formats usually kept in machines with two paper 
> trays. When they 
> use a copier in North America, it often comes as a 
> disappointing surprise 
> when they find out that magnifying an entire page is not a function 
> available there. The absence of this useful capability is a 
> direct result of 
> the unfortunate design of the U.S. paper formats. North 
> American copiers 
> usually also have two or more paper trays, but these are 
> mostly used for the 
> two very similar "Letter" and "Legal" formats, wasting the 
> opportunity of 
> offering a highly useful magnifying capability. Any enlarging 
> of a "Letter" 
> page onto "Legal" paper will always chop off margins and is 
> therefore of 
> little use. The Legal format itself is quite rarely used, the 
> notion that it 
> is for "legal" work is a popular myth; the vast majority of 
> U.S. legal 
> documents are actually using the "Letter" format. Some 
> copiers also offer in 
> addition or instead the next larger "Ledger" format, but that 
> again has a 
> different aspect ratio and will therefore change the margins 
> of a document 
> during magnification or reduction. "
> 
> "If you purchase new office or printing equipment in North 
> America, it might 
> be wise to pay attention whether the equipment is suitable 
> for use with A4 
> paper. When you make inquiries, best indicate to vendors that ISO 216 
> compatibility of equipment is of concern to you. "
> 
> "Universities in the U.S. increasingly use A4 size paper in 
> laser printers 
> and library copying machines, because most conferences 
> outside North America 
> require papers to be submitted in A4 format and many journals 
> and conference 
> proceedings are printed in A4 format. "
> 
> "The three-hole 70-mm filing system widely used in the U.S. is not 
> compatible with the two-hole 80-mm ISO system used in most 
> other countries. 
> The three-hole system could of course also be used on A4 
> pages, but many 
> files with a three-hole mechanism are only designed for U.S. 
> "Letter" sheets 
> and are not tall enough to reliably protect A4 pages. Another 
> disadvantage 
> of the three-hole system is that it is not suitable for 
> storing formats 
> smaller than U.S. "Letter". "
> 
> Enough reasons surely?
> 
> Bob Frost.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> 
> From: "Stephen Billard" <stephen@...>
> 
> 
> Why should the US change? So far I have not seen an argument.
> 
> 
> 
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