Rage against the software, not the machine

Let me run you through a couple frustrations I ran into at work today...

I got a newsletter file in today from a client of a client, set up in Pagemaker...version 6.5...for Windows. Here are the problems with this:

1. We're Mac based.
2. The newsletter was built in 6 separate files.
3. Files from Pagemaker 6.5 for Windows aren't recognized by Pagemaker 7 for Mac.
4. I had to find the 6.5 install disks for Mac and install it to be able to open the files.
5. One missing font, which I called the client about and he emailed it to me.
6. The font was PC only. I could easily convert it to mac format, but it wouldn't print right.
7. So, I bit the bullet and opened it in InDesign instead and went page by page and fixed everything that shifted in the conversion.

In my opinion, Ragemaker (not a typo) is the IntelliVision of graphic design applications. When it first came out, it was far superior to everything else on the market, but you had to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to use it effectively (anyone who has ever tried to play baseball for IntelliVision knows what I'm talking about).

The big difference between IntelliVision and Pagemaker is, as it's competitors caught up and surpassed them, the makers of IntelliVision had the sense to admit defeat and quit. Not Pagemaker, oh no. For years, they kept making "upgrades" which consisted mainly of the same frustrating shit only in a prettier box. Finally, a few years ago, Adobe finally quit making upgrades and made a new program from the ground up. InDesign...the XBox 360 of layout applications.

The trouble is, people still use Pagemaker! People actually prefer to use it! Windows has updated five times since they quit making it (Mac OS, three). I'm beginning to think the only way I can get rid of it is to collect every install disk ever made, form a fellowship of nine and instruct them to ride east to Mordor and cast it into the fires of Mount Doom from which they were forged.

Moving on to the other side of the spectrum...Another client apparently just bought the latest version of Photoshop. He's new, and has gone a tad overboard with it. Now he sends me files with precise details as to what he did to create the files. and if I have to make changes, he lists off exact instructions, worthy of an instruction manual, to tell me what to do. A page and a half's worth of directions to tell me to hit the up arrow five times.

Fuck it, I'm going to Arnie's.