1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:05,400 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:13,120 Speaker 1: Stuff looks dot com. Well look at that. You're back 3 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: again for another episode of tech Stuff. My name is 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: Chris Poulette and I am an editor at how Stuff 5 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,119 Speaker 1: works dot com. Sitting across from me, as is typical, 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,119 Speaker 1: is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. He there, so today I 7 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: thought we would chat a bit. Uh, We're gonna do 8 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:32,560 Speaker 1: another one of our infamous two part episodes about a company. 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: In this case, we're talking about the company Adobe. Yes, 10 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: we Uh, we've had people ask us about specific Adobe 11 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 1: products in the past, or products that used to be 12 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: owned by somebody else who that are now owned by Adobe. 13 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: And uh, we were talking about what we wanted to 14 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: do this week, and I think we wanted to. We 15 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: decided that we were going to try this adventure. And 16 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: it is an adventure because there's a lot going on 17 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: for a company that's that's not as old as some 18 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: of the others we've talked about, like IBM, for example, 19 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: HP General at Trick. You know these companies that have 20 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 1: century long histories. In this case, we're talking about a 21 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:08,320 Speaker 1: company that was that was originally founded in nine two. 22 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: But before we get to that, First of all, we 23 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: should probably mention if you're not familiar with Adobe overall, 24 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: really what their focus was early early on, It was 25 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: all about, uh, the digital information you see on a display, 26 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: how do you replicate that reliably into things like a 27 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: hard copy format? You know, things like if you have 28 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: a certain font showing up on the screen, how can 29 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:39,960 Speaker 1: you create some software that will allow you to make 30 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 1: that font translate over into say a hard copy form 31 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: like on a printer, Or just how you create new 32 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: types of fonts so that you aren't limited to a 33 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: single set of characters when you are creating documents for 34 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: the digital formats, because I mean, you don't want everything 35 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: to look exactly the same in uniformly. You want to 36 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: personalize stuff as much as you can and customize it. 37 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: So that was really what the Adobe founders were thinking about. 38 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: Those founders were John Warnock and Charles Gesh. That's right. Um. 39 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, this this whole thing, um, 40 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: you may be thinking of as sort of a a 41 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: PC type thing. I mean, Um, the technology we're talking 42 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: about here led to the popularity of desktop publishing, but 43 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: the the seeds of this technology were planted quite a 44 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: bit before. Um, PCs ended up on every desktop in 45 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: you know, the corporate world and on on our uh 46 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: laptops at home and all the other stuff. Um. It 47 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: really started in in the late nineties seventies at a 48 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: completely different company that that you probably have heard of before, 49 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: with the next at the beginning and the next at 50 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: the end, Xerox. UM. Xerox was known for being a 51 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,799 Speaker 1: technological leader, but they liked to keep their technologies to themselves. 52 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,639 Speaker 1: And we we've talked in the past about Apple, they're 53 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: they're quote unquote famous for having their their graphical user interface, 54 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:17,919 Speaker 1: the Gooey stolen quote unquote allegedly from Zerox from Xerox 55 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,639 Speaker 1: in their Palo Alto Research center by by uh well 56 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: actually various people who came in to see it, and 57 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: among those being Steve Jobs. I know there were others 58 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: from other companies. Well, I mean Steve Jobs has you 59 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,079 Speaker 1: know he was famous for saying at one point during 60 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: an interview that you know, good artists copy great art 61 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: steel and this was sort of kind of part of 62 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: what he was talking about, you know, the graphic user 63 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: interface and even the mouse. Where technologies developed at this 64 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: Palo Alto research center or park. That's the Xerox Park. 65 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: It's it's a famous, famous research center because so many 66 00:03:56,120 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: different technologies that we use today got their start in 67 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: this research center, and UH, either through licensing or outright theft, 68 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: have finally made their way to the general public. WHOA, whoa, WHOA. 69 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: Hold on a minute there, Jonathan. Okay, So when I 70 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,839 Speaker 1: said that, I was really not thinking clearly. Xerox Park 71 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: did refine and helped popularize things like the computer mouse 72 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: and the graphic user interface, but in fact those were 73 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,920 Speaker 1: not invented at Xerox Park. A man by the name 74 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: of Douglas Ingelbart first got those those concepts moving in 75 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,559 Speaker 1: the early sixties, and it would be a decade later 76 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: when Xerox would really take advantage of them. So I 77 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:40,840 Speaker 1: just wanted to correct that before all of you send 78 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: all your emails. Ever, Yeah, it's it's um, it's kind 79 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: of interesting. We should we should eventually do an episode 80 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: on on this group of people, because feeling would be 81 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: at least two. But yes, I agree, But because they 82 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 1: came up with so much and and that's in fact 83 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: how Warnock and Gesh met they were working on UH 84 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: technologies that would I would work with both bitmapped graphics 85 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: and uh well graphics and fonts together. UM. Two of 86 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: these these technologies were called JAM, which is capital J 87 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: a capital M and interpress UM and Xerox actually decided 88 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,359 Speaker 1: they were going to use uh interpress as their own standard, 89 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: but they refused to license it to other people. And well, 90 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: you know, they was they were holding it close to 91 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: their vest if you will pardon the gaming um symbolism there, Yeah, 92 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: they were. They were really they wanted to keep it 93 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: to themselves. And and both GESHK and WARNOCKX saw that 94 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: something like this could could really help other people, and 95 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 1: they decided to uh to make a go of it. Yeah, 96 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: So in nineteen two they go and found Adobe system 97 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: Well then it was just Adobe. So they found a 98 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,919 Speaker 1: company called Adobe. They secured two and a half million 99 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: dollars in seed money from hembrecton Quist. So they get 100 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: this money that to found the company. Uh. And it 101 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: was you saw where it was named what it was 102 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,720 Speaker 1: named after? Adobe? It was named after a creek that 103 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:17,280 Speaker 1: ran through warnox backyard in Los Altos, California. They had 104 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: at that time, they had no physical office space in 105 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: two What they did have were two employees, just Warnock 106 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: and ges and zero dollars in revenue. Uh and uh 107 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: Warnox wife Marva designed the first Adobe logo. Now that 108 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:39,479 Speaker 1: is not the same logo that Adobe uses today. They've 109 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: actually revised that logo a couple of times. And I'm 110 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 1: sure we'll mention it as it happens when we work 111 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: our way through the timeline. But yes, it was John 112 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: Warnock wife who designed the very first one. And um 113 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: so wait wait she was a designer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 114 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: it turns out, you know, well, what the whole company 115 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: was about originally original was how to reproduce, how to 116 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: accurately reproduce if I can splin infinitive, uh, the uh, 117 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: the digital text and graphics you would see on the 118 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: screen onto paper. That was the original focus of this company. Now, 119 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: since then, it has diversified quite a bit, although not 120 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: as not as much as some other companies you can 121 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: think of, Like there are technology companies out there that 122 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: have diversified so much that there are if you were 123 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: to look at two different branches of that company, it 124 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:32,600 Speaker 1: would be very hard to draw any similarities between the two. 125 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: Like we we've talked about some of these companies that 126 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: got so big and so complex that you know, it 127 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 1: was almost like you're talking about completely different companies when 128 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: you're talking about different divisions that that's not exactly true 129 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: with Adobe. You mean like like ge makes, you know, 130 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: toaster ovens and jet engines. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a 131 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: good example. Um and medical technology and guest top printers. Yeah. 132 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: I mean it's it's yeah, They're They're versification has been 133 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: more uh sort of, I don't know how. It's sort 134 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: of like the product lines you see in the store, like, oh, well, 135 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: you know, we've we've always made chocolate and vanilla flavors, 136 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: but now we're making mango. Yeah. Uh. Their their their 137 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: technologies are very much in the design world, right. So 138 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: then they started to develop a programming language. Technically it's 139 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: a dynamically typed concatinative. Because I can't say these words 140 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: programming language. I can say concatenation, concatenitive, concatenitive. Yeah. It's interesting, 141 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: isn't it. Yeah? Yeah, I'm like I look at them 142 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 1: like I have never seen this word before, and I'm 143 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:50,560 Speaker 1: just going to ruin it. Anyway. It's a programming language 144 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: called PostScript, and this sort of forms the foundation for 145 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: the products that Adobe would develop over its early early 146 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: years as a company. So that all happens in a 147 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: D two and in eight three they officially incorporate in 148 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 1: the state of California. So Adobe becomes an official company 149 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:17,319 Speaker 1: and they issue their first PostScript license. They also opened 150 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: their first office space in Mountain View, California, which, for 151 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:25,439 Speaker 1: those of you who are familiar with the technology region 152 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: in California, that's Google's stomping ground these days, a lot 153 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: of people stomping ground. Frankly, yeah, well Google stomps bigger 154 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: than most companies. Uh. And and so they the first 155 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:43,120 Speaker 1: license for PostScript technology goes to another notable company in 156 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: the technology world, another notable company in the technology work 157 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:49,680 Speaker 1: world that has a name that begins with a letter A. 158 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, Apple, that is correct, Apples 159 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: the first license of PostScript technology to help to determine 160 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: these the displays fonts and things of that nature on 161 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:08,640 Speaker 1: Apple computers. Uh. During that year, So this is technically 162 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:10,960 Speaker 1: the second year of Adobe, but the first year of incorporation. 163 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:14,680 Speaker 1: The company makes eighty three thousand dollars in revenue and 164 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: they have thirteen employees. So the sky is the limit. 165 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely, Well, um, if you'll remember, we've talked about, 166 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,680 Speaker 1: you know, of course Steve Jobs many times, but he 167 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: he had done some design work back when he was 168 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: studying in college. He was fascinated with typography, and one 169 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 1: of the things that he really wanted for the Macintosh computer, 170 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:42,319 Speaker 1: which if you will remember, launched in UM, was its 171 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,800 Speaker 1: ability to handle fonts. Well, that's thanks in large part 172 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 1: to Adobe's PostScript technology. Hey, I didn't trip to trip 173 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: over that word. I tripped over trip. Yeah, well we're 174 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:57,880 Speaker 1: none of us are perfect, but yeah, it's uh. This 175 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: start started a close relationship between Apple and Adobe, which 176 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: which has not always been a smooth relationship, even even 177 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: when even in these early days, because Adobe was sort of, 178 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,360 Speaker 1: for a while the only game in town when it 179 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: came to font technology and font development, and so they 180 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,679 Speaker 1: could kind of depending upon whom you asked. If you 181 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:27,839 Speaker 1: asked Apple, Apple would say their prices are getting too high. 182 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 1: You know, we're having to pay uh licensing fees that 183 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: are unreasonably high. And we'll get more into that as 184 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: that relationship develops. But in four this is when, ah, 185 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: that just really starts to come into play because Adobe 186 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: enters into a licensing agreement to develop Type one versions 187 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: of linotype fonts. And this is sort of the basis 188 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: of this this font war between Adobe and Apple, which 189 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 1: sounds like it's, you know, kind of boring, but it's 190 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: really interesting to me because you're talking about something that's 191 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:07,560 Speaker 1: fundamental to the way that a computer displays information to 192 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,559 Speaker 1: a user. So it is something that's really really important. 193 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 1: And if you know, if you do have essentially what 194 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:17,719 Speaker 1: if what if in effect is a monopoly on that, 195 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:20,719 Speaker 1: then you hold a lot of power. You know, it 196 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:22,640 Speaker 1: doesn't seem like it would be much like it's the 197 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,320 Speaker 1: font what what? What's the big deal? No? No, no, no, no, no, no, 198 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: no no. Let let me tell you just as a 199 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:33,080 Speaker 1: personal anecdote, because you know, eighty four, I was, you know, twelve, 200 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: thirteen years old, um and uh you know, my my 201 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,200 Speaker 1: older brother and if he wanted to do to uh 202 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: type up a paper for class, he got over to 203 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:46,720 Speaker 1: the typewriter and typed it. And if you wanted fonts, 204 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:48,719 Speaker 1: you know what, back when we talked about IBM, we 205 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: had a selectric typewriter at home. If you wanted to 206 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 1: change the funt, you had to change the ball on 207 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:56,920 Speaker 1: the typewriter. And there those were not super cheap. We 208 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: only had I think maybe two um and they looked 209 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 1: like you had typed it, you know, and if you 210 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:04,320 Speaker 1: make a mistake, you know, white out or go back 211 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 1: over it or type it again. So, uh, my friend, 212 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:10,440 Speaker 1: I have a friend who who got one of the 213 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 1: very first Macintosh is and uh we took great delight 214 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 1: on and typing all the stuff out and all the 215 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 1: different fonts and printing it out, and it was like, wow, 216 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: that's really I mean, that's just so cool. I had 217 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:22,960 Speaker 1: a printer for my Amiga that I got around the 218 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: same time that had no dessenders um. And for those 219 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: of you who are font people, you know what I'm 220 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:31,080 Speaker 1: talking about. But the G s in this case, uh, 221 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: the lower case G with the thing that hangs below 222 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,719 Speaker 1: the line the baseline of the font um. The G 223 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 1: was hyped up so that the bottom of the little 224 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: tail on the G was as low as let's say 225 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: the bottom of a B or an H. So it 226 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 1: looked all wonky. I got I got marked off for 227 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:49,920 Speaker 1: that in class. But the way the way this was 228 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:55,840 Speaker 1: done brought just made all this this technology more readily 229 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: available for a lot less than you would find it 230 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 1: if you wanted something like that pub lished you would 231 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: have to pay a lot of money for it, and 232 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: it was it was a lot of money, but not 233 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: at the same level that you would have if you 234 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:10,560 Speaker 1: had it done professionally. So making these fonts available, that 235 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:14,199 Speaker 1: the line of type fonts UM or the I T 236 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:18,959 Speaker 1: C fonts, the International UM is it Typography Foundation something 237 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:20,760 Speaker 1: like that. Let me, I'll look for that in a 238 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 1: second while you're talking. But yeah, UM, because I know, 239 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:24,800 Speaker 1: I just thought here a second to get where it 240 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: was it UM. But yeah, the I T C fonts 241 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: were you know, those were available to people who were professionals, 242 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: and now all of a sudden, you know, making them 243 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: available to people with the desktop computer for maybe you know, 244 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: two or three thousand dollars. Yeah, you're talking about the 245 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: birth of desktop publishing, which you know suddenly it's it's 246 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 1: hard to kind of put this into perspective today, but 247 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:51,640 Speaker 1: you imagine that if you go back far enough, publishing 248 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: something was beyond the means of the average person because 249 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: they just didn't have access to the sort of type 250 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: setting equipment they would need to to create layout and 251 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 1: and and produce things on their own. So without going 252 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,239 Speaker 1: to some other company and hiring them to do it, 253 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 1: it was really difficult to do, and this was suddenly 254 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: creating the ability for the average person to get into 255 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,000 Speaker 1: that and that was a very powerful thing. In fact, 256 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: that was one of the one of the main reasons 257 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: why personal computers were really taking off, because not only 258 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: were they being thought of as as an educational tool 259 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 1: for kids or a gaming device depending on how you 260 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:36,720 Speaker 1: were looking at it, right, it also became a true 261 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:42,400 Speaker 1: workstation for people who were into this this publishing arena. 262 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:47,960 Speaker 1: And that same year they relocated their office to Palo Alto, 263 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 1: which is stomping grounds for this weekend tech um as 264 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 1: well as other companies, and their revenues hit two point 265 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: two million dollars and sixty eight percent of that revenue 266 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 1: came from Apple royalty payments, so Apple royalty payments for 267 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: the PostScript licenses are made up more than half of 268 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: that two point two million dollars in revenue. And at 269 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 1: that point they had twenty seven employees. So moving up 270 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: to UH eighty five, that's when Adobe actually ships PostScript 271 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: level one, so this is beyond the licensing, they're shipping 272 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: it as a product. And they also did the first 273 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: PostScript printer. Yes, go ahead, So I is the International 274 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: Typeface Corporation, and I apologize it. I had it in 275 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,120 Speaker 1: the back of my head and then I switched pages 276 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 1: on my notes. It's it's easy for me to get 277 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 1: those acronyms and and and abbreviations all mixed up to 278 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: But yeah, so still early days. But so in eighty 279 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: four they made two point two million. In eighty five 280 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 1: they made four point six millions, so they more than 281 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:53,920 Speaker 1: doubled their revenue. They went from twenty seven employees to 282 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,280 Speaker 1: forty four employees, so they didn't quite double their workforce, 283 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:00,120 Speaker 1: but they did double their revenue. And they began to 284 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:04,280 Speaker 1: publish the PostScript Language Reference Manual, which is also known 285 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,880 Speaker 1: as the Red Book. And if you take a look 286 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,160 Speaker 1: at that first publication, that first edition, you'll know why 287 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 1: it's called the Red Book. It's enormous and it's read, 288 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: so it's a book. Is also a book. So there 289 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:20,560 Speaker 1: we have the mystery solved. Why it is called the 290 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: Red Book. Is big, it is a book, it is read. 291 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: I can't help it. And so in so four years 292 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: after they've first founded this company, and three years after 293 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: they incorporated, they launched their initial public offering or i 294 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:42,440 Speaker 1: p O. So this is where Adobe switches over from 295 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 1: being a privately owned company to a public company, publicly 296 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: traded company, and their opening stock price at that time 297 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:56,080 Speaker 1: is eleven dollars a share. UH. Since they went public, 298 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: they have had that stock split several times, so they've 299 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 1: done two for one splits on multiple occasions, so which 300 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:08,920 Speaker 1: means that you know, they've uh the the value of 301 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: the company has gone up as they have actually doubled 302 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: the number of stocks that were available. UH. At the 303 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:18,199 Speaker 1: current stock price is, as as of the recording of 304 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,120 Speaker 1: this podcast, which is at the end of October two 305 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,800 Speaker 1: thousand and twelve, and this is pre trading dollars here, 306 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:28,080 Speaker 1: thirty three dollars forty cents a share. So you figure 307 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: the stock has multiplied several times since they launched, and 308 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:35,800 Speaker 1: the price itself has gone up. So the value of 309 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,959 Speaker 1: the company has increased UH dramatically since they went public, 310 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:45,199 Speaker 1: which you would hope, right it's to say otherwise is 311 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 1: what we call a bad thing. Anyway, they also had 312 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: their font library hit over one hundred fonts at this time. 313 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: Now since then we're talking about fonts that are there 314 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: are thousands of them, but that was big news back 315 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: in six Well, that's an understatement, but still but I'm 316 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: talking about the Adobe font library in particular, and that's when. 317 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:20,439 Speaker 1: That's also when another thing with Apple happened, although it 318 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:24,679 Speaker 1: was not particularly about the licensing. It was a fellow 319 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,239 Speaker 1: who came from Apple. He was a developer on a 320 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,840 Speaker 1: computer called the Leasa Lisa, which we talked about I 321 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 1: think a couple of times in this podcast in other episodes. 322 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: But the Lisa computer was not what you would call 323 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: a success. But Tom malloy, who worked at Apple, joined 324 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: Adobe and began to design typeface and PostScript products and 325 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:54,280 Speaker 1: would climb quite high in the executive branch of Adobe. 326 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: Um So that was an interesting development, I thought. Moving 327 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,720 Speaker 1: on to D seven, do you have anything to say 328 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: about six Adobe publishes One of their flagship products in 329 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 1: the early days anyway, illustrator let it let let people 330 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:19,360 Speaker 1: create PostScript based graphics. Now, essentially PostScript graphics are line art. 331 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: So when if you've heard our our episode where we 332 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: talked about the different types of graphics computer graphics, line 333 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 1: art is has some advantages over bitmapped art in the 334 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: specifically when it comes to scaling. So when you change 335 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:38,720 Speaker 1: the scale of line art, you don't have to worry 336 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: about problems with resolution. No, not generally, because vector graphics 337 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: basically that the computer can interpolate, uh you know, the 338 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 1: starting and ending points of each of the lines and 339 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:53,880 Speaker 1: the line art. It's all based on math. Yeah, so 340 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 1: you know, math is what computers compute. Really all it 341 00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:58,639 Speaker 1: all it takes is for it to do that. Now, 342 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: if you're uh, drinking a bitmapped graphic, it's not such 343 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: a problem. The computer just makes uh, you know, a 344 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,920 Speaker 1: decision on which of the pixels it needs to toss 345 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,120 Speaker 1: outing it because because of bitmapped image do so well 346 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: is a collection of pixels, right, So you're think of 347 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 1: a bitmapped image as a bunch of different dots of 348 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:19,639 Speaker 1: different colors. And you know, the more dots you have, 349 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: the greater the resolution in general. And if you but 350 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,240 Speaker 1: when you expand a bitmapped picture, you do not get 351 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: more dots to fill in the space between the dots. 352 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: So eventually those dots, the space between the dots gets 353 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,159 Speaker 1: quite large, and that's where you start getting the problems 354 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,199 Speaker 1: with resolution. So that's when we talk about if you 355 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,879 Speaker 1: have a camera with a certain number of megapixels, the 356 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,639 Speaker 1: more megapixels there are in general, that means the larger 357 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: you can you can scale up an image before you 358 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,960 Speaker 1: start encountering problems with resolution in general. There are other 359 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 1: elements that, of course play very heavily into an image 360 00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 1: is quality, and we've talked about that in our digital 361 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: photograph the episodes. But but that that was one of 362 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,119 Speaker 1: the things that gave artists a new tool, was this 363 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:10,119 Speaker 1: Illustrator suite of software that would let them create graphics 364 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,720 Speaker 1: within UH. This this PostScript language, and now that the 365 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: PostScript pretty much lived inside printers um at this point 366 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: and according to UH, according to what Adobe has said, UM, 367 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:27,200 Speaker 1: and the inspiration for Illustrator came from John Warnock watching 368 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: his wife Marva work, and he remembered she was the 369 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:34,399 Speaker 1: one who who developed the Adobe logo, and so he 370 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:36,680 Speaker 1: what he was doing was he was watching her her 371 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,199 Speaker 1: draw on paper and said, you know, it would be 372 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:43,320 Speaker 1: really cool if we could use PostScript to do this, 373 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,359 Speaker 1: to give designers the ability to use a computer to 374 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:50,960 Speaker 1: work on design, um, you know, and and and make 375 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:55,640 Speaker 1: this a tool for real designers to do real work. UM. 376 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,160 Speaker 1: So that's that's sort of you know, what was going on. 377 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: An engineer named Mike schuster Um was behind Illustrated. He 378 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:05,160 Speaker 1: was the one who was assigned the task of making 379 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:09,639 Speaker 1: this happen UM and uh, you know it it wasn't 380 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:16,199 Speaker 1: terribly inexpensive. You know, when it was released it was fos. 381 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:21,919 Speaker 1: But again this is taken in context other other UM 382 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:26,639 Speaker 1: software that was similar in in uh in its kind 383 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: where you know, it was much more expensive than that. 384 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,720 Speaker 1: So this was it gave people an opportunity to do 385 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:34,199 Speaker 1: that and to use it the pen tool, which was 386 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,440 Speaker 1: more of an approximation of drawing by hand. Of course, 387 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: at that point, I think most people were using a 388 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,640 Speaker 1: mouse with it than a pen that um. I think 389 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,320 Speaker 1: it was probably a few years later when it became 390 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:50,480 Speaker 1: more common to use a pen and a tablet to 391 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 1: do it. But you know, still it was a different 392 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,959 Speaker 1: way to do illustration on a computer, and it was 393 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: it was a popular tool. By this time. The revenues 394 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:03,160 Speaker 1: for Adobe head hit about thirty nine million, and they 395 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:07,479 Speaker 1: had a seventy two employees and fort of the revenue 396 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,960 Speaker 1: at this point came from Apple, So Apple playing a 397 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 1: diminishing role in their overall revenue is still a very 398 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 1: important one. I mean, thirty nine million is no chump change. 399 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:20,600 Speaker 1: But at this point they also started to license PostScript 400 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,160 Speaker 1: to companies like little companies with little names like HP 401 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 1: and IBM. I think I've heard of those guys. Yeah, 402 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,960 Speaker 1: And of course IBM at this time was really heavily 403 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:34,280 Speaker 1: involved in the personal computer realm. They would eventually kind 404 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,439 Speaker 1: of step away from that, but not at the moment. 405 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:41,280 Speaker 1: And they at this point, Adobe makes another move, so 406 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:45,480 Speaker 1: they moved from Palo Alto back to Mountain View, California. 407 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:48,920 Speaker 1: Still not the final move for Adobe, by the way. 408 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,920 Speaker 1: So you know, just gear you guys up for another 409 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:56,159 Speaker 1: exciting talk about relocating a company. There's something else that 410 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: was happening at the same time. I'm sorry, you were 411 00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,760 Speaker 1: going to say something that, well, it might be related 412 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: to that, or you're you're talking about the brothers. Ah, yes, yes, 413 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: are in the same time. In seven, you have a 414 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:11,679 Speaker 1: PhD student named Thomas Nol and he was working on 415 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: a program. It was a program that would let him 416 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:17,800 Speaker 1: display gray scale images on a monochromatic screen. Monochromatic meaning 417 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:20,879 Speaker 1: there's one color represented, but gray scale means that you 418 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: could get different shades of that monochromatic color, which was 419 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:27,960 Speaker 1: kind of a big deal, right, you know, it was 420 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: it was an advance in display technology. And now we're 421 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 1: talking about seven. So for people who are used to these, 422 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: you know, super high definition screens, it's kind of an 423 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,720 Speaker 1: unusual thing to think about, but we did not always 424 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,679 Speaker 1: have those. And so he kind of, you know, was 425 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: playing around with this program, and he showed it off 426 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,840 Speaker 1: to his brother John, who worked for a little production 427 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 1: company UM, a little like effects and production company Industrial 428 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:02,240 Speaker 1: Light and something something magic. I wonder if he asked 429 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:07,120 Speaker 1: him if he was sleeping first, Are you sleeping? John? Um? 430 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 1: Also another fellow with a similar last name. Wait, now 431 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,920 Speaker 1: he was another brother named Glenn. Oh. I didn't even 432 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: know about Glenn. I knew about Thomas and John, but 433 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:20,200 Speaker 1: they they started to work. John had had recommended to 434 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:24,360 Speaker 1: Thomas that he look further into this, uh, this program 435 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 1: he had created, this which he called display um, and 436 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: to develop this software further. And so they began to work, 437 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:37,440 Speaker 1: the brothers Knoll on this software, and it eventually developed 438 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,960 Speaker 1: into a different program. Uh. They tried to name it. 439 00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:43,080 Speaker 1: I forget what it was. They were trying to name 440 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,960 Speaker 1: it one one. They came up with one name, but 441 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,920 Speaker 1: it was already taken. So they went to their fallback name. 442 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: That fallback name has become something of a a staple 443 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:58,159 Speaker 1: on the web and and in uh publishing in general. 444 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:03,239 Speaker 1: That name is but do shop. So photoshop created by 445 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:08,960 Speaker 1: the brothers Knoll Uh and it was fairly primitive in 446 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 1: its early days, but you know, it's now become a verb, 447 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 1: so it's obviously important. Well. Adobe, Adobe took notice of 448 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: this and in they decided to license Photoshop to Illustrator 449 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 1: as an add on product. And here's another kind of 450 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: funny thing. Adobe didn't really think at that time that 451 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:33,119 Speaker 1: Photoshop deserved to be a standalone product. They thought of 452 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:36,280 Speaker 1: it as just simply an add on for Illustrator. They 453 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:41,320 Speaker 1: didn't think that it would ever be necessarily a revenue generator. Um, 454 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,119 Speaker 1: so they just they just said, are We'll just create 455 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:47,439 Speaker 1: this as an add on for a product we have 456 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,920 Speaker 1: already published. They would obviously change their minds about that, 457 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,400 Speaker 1: uh in a couple of years. But that was also 458 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:58,520 Speaker 1: when they produced what was called the font Folio, just 459 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 1: a hard drive that had the tire font library from 460 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,200 Speaker 1: Adobe stored on it, so you could buy a hard 461 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:08,480 Speaker 1: drive the head every single font Adobe owned in its library. 462 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:14,600 Speaker 1: And it cost a paltry nine thousand, six hundred dollars, 463 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:19,919 Speaker 1: which so in in two thousand eleven dollars, which was 464 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 1: the latest I could get for a inflation calculator. That's 465 00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: about eighteen thousand dollars. That's a princely sum. It was 466 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,520 Speaker 1: a princely sum. It went from paltry to princely in 467 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:35,080 Speaker 1: one sentence. Really. Um yeah, And and you know they 468 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:38,640 Speaker 1: weren't they weren't the only ones working on these different 469 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:42,480 Speaker 1: kinds of technologies. Um. You know I read in an 470 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 1: interview with a guy named Paul Brainerd, who you may 471 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: or may not have heard of. Jonathan is nodding, I 472 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:54,280 Speaker 1: have heard of. Um he while while these guys were 473 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 1: doing these things. Uh, mr Mr Brainerd was you know, 474 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:04,280 Speaker 1: he came from a newspaper publishing world. Uh. He actually 475 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: was the editor of the University of Minnesota Daily and uh, 476 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,560 Speaker 1: you know, during graduate school while he was working there, 477 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,920 Speaker 1: and he was interested in finding a better way to 478 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,880 Speaker 1: do page layout at the newspaper. And you know, as 479 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:22,480 Speaker 1: a former newspaper newspaperman myself, I remember, even even with 480 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,520 Speaker 1: the help of computers, having to uh still work on 481 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: doing layout for pages by cutting the pages out and 482 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: pasting them onto the paper to be shot with a camera. Um, 483 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: you know, by hand. You cut him out with an 484 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: exactor knife and stick him on there with hot wax. Uh. 485 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 1: Kind of a pain in the neck, painting the finger 486 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: if you weren't paying attention. Um. And he said, you know, 487 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:46,000 Speaker 1: there's got to be a better way to do this, 488 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:50,080 Speaker 1: and so he started a company named Aldus uh name 489 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:54,440 Speaker 1: for Aldus Minutius, who was sort of a typographer himself 490 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: several centuries before that. UM. Just sort of a keep 491 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 1: this in the back of your mind. But because he's 492 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: going to come up again in the not too terribly 493 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 1: distant future, right, which is actually our past. Well yeah, 494 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,040 Speaker 1: just blew your mind. Yeah. Well, he he introduced a 495 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 1: program called PageMaker, which put him sort of as a 496 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:20,160 Speaker 1: head to head competitor with Adobe because they were coming 497 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 1: out with similar kinds of products. They were you know, 498 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,480 Speaker 1: Adobe was doing uh the PostScript for the printers. PageMaker 499 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,640 Speaker 1: was sort of a nice compliment in this particular instance 500 00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:33,840 Speaker 1: because it was able to uh create the pages which 501 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: could use these fonts and would help newspapers and other 502 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 1: publishing houses take advantage of desktop publishing. Um. But they 503 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,479 Speaker 1: will not they will not always be so complimentary, and 504 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: in fact, they will get really really complimentary in the 505 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 1: future of our of our discussion and at this the 506 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: same around the same time, this is when Apple and 507 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:59,040 Speaker 1: even Microsoft began to sort of rebel against Adobe and 508 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:04,840 Speaker 1: their Type one UH fonts because the the licensing fees 509 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: were getting to be pretty expensive and so um. Eventually, 510 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:12,880 Speaker 1: what this, what this evolved into, was that Apple and 511 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:18,520 Speaker 1: Microsoft UH switched too true Type fonts, which was something 512 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:22,880 Speaker 1: developed by Apple U for both mac os and for Windows. 513 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 1: So those operating systems began to use Apple's true Type 514 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: as opposed to the Type one fonts from Adobe. That 515 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:33,360 Speaker 1: won't be the last time that happens. And eventually this actually, 516 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:38,240 Speaker 1: this actually led to the development of open type, which 517 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: suddenly meant that no one ever had to worry about 518 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: paying huge licensing fees ever again, because now you had 519 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:48,640 Speaker 1: an open format version of all these font libraries that 520 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: were yeah theoretically, oh your your mileage for the word 521 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 1: open may vary. Yes. In n Adobe ships a few 522 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,120 Speaker 1: new products. They ship Type Manager one and PostScript Level two, 523 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: and their revenue gets up to about a one million dollars. 524 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,720 Speaker 1: They've got around three eight three employees, so things were 525 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,440 Speaker 1: going fairly strong for this company. And you know this 526 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 1: look pretty dramatic success story. You know, you look at 527 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,160 Speaker 1: that first year of revenues where it was well, the 528 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 1: fairst year it was zero, and the second year dollars 529 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:28,960 Speaker 1: and now they're already up to over a hundred million. Uh. 530 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 1: And in nine, Adobe held a pre release Photoshop workshop 531 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:39,040 Speaker 1: called Camp Adobe. Now, at this time they had determined 532 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,920 Speaker 1: that perhaps Photoshop actually could stand on its own as 533 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,400 Speaker 1: a as a a standalone software product. It did not 534 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,560 Speaker 1: necessarily have to be an add on to something else. 535 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,960 Speaker 1: So they held this pre release workshop to kind of 536 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:58,200 Speaker 1: educate people about Photoshop as well as drum up excitement 537 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: for this product, and then shipped it a little bit 538 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:05,280 Speaker 1: later in nine. They also shipped Illustrator three that same year, 539 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:09,120 Speaker 1: and that was the same year where another Adobe employee, 540 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:13,840 Speaker 1: Luanne Seymour Cohen, tweaked the Adobe logo to make it 541 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,880 Speaker 1: uh so that would it could easily scale to different sizes. 542 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,200 Speaker 1: It was a little um in its original format. It 543 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,360 Speaker 1: was a little more difficult to do that, but she 544 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:28,920 Speaker 1: made some some tweaks to it to streamline that process. 545 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,280 Speaker 1: And the company was making around a hundred sixty nine 546 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:38,880 Speaker 1: million by then with five eight employees. Um moving forward. 547 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:41,600 Speaker 1: Once we hit ninety one, we start getting into the 548 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: era where Adobe has gotten large enough now where they're 549 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:50,160 Speaker 1: looking around at similar companies that make products that either 550 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:55,160 Speaker 1: compliment what Adobe area does or overlap what Adobe does. 551 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 1: And rather than you know, rather than than simply just 552 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,840 Speaker 1: pete or try and create new products. You know, Adobe's 553 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:06,240 Speaker 1: gotten large enough now where they can actually look into acquisitions, 554 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:10,880 Speaker 1: and so they acquire a company called Emerald City Software 555 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:16,400 Speaker 1: and yeah, did you were you off to see the Wizard? 556 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 1: Now they they designed m font manipulation software. So Adobe 557 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:27,120 Speaker 1: sweeps them up, and uh, they release a few other 558 00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:31,080 Speaker 1: products like Time Manager, to Photoshop, to h and actually 559 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:34,200 Speaker 1: at this point Photoshop too. You know, it's just the 560 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:39,600 Speaker 1: second version. It already begins to outsell Illustrator. So the 561 00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,640 Speaker 1: program that had used Photoshop is just an add on 562 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,320 Speaker 1: is now being left behind by the add on. The 563 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:50,440 Speaker 1: Photoshop is now doing quite well. That's also when Adobe 564 00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:57,280 Speaker 1: launches a software called Premiere, and Premiere is a video 565 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:02,080 Speaker 1: editing software program. So for video editors out there, they're 566 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,680 Speaker 1: probably very familiar or at least they've heard of Premiere. 567 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:06,680 Speaker 1: I'm sure most of them have worked in it in 568 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:11,320 Speaker 1: some capacity. Uh. The original Premiere came out just for Max. 569 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,640 Speaker 1: They were it was not for Windows yet. And in fact, 570 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:16,920 Speaker 1: this is this is kind of the era where the 571 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:20,120 Speaker 1: Mac got the reputation. As if you were someone who 572 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,520 Speaker 1: worked in audio or video editing and you had a 573 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:28,040 Speaker 1: desktop computer and not some specialized, you know, proprietary machine, 574 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,560 Speaker 1: chances are it was a Mac because Max were known 575 00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:36,720 Speaker 1: for their the software support side for this kind of stuff. 576 00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:40,719 Speaker 1: So this was part of what gave Max that reputation, 577 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:46,600 Speaker 1: was software like Premiere um. That same year, Warnock writes 578 00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:51,880 Speaker 1: a memo about a project called Camelot. It is a 579 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 1: silly project, Uh, but Camelot is a code name for 580 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:01,760 Speaker 1: a product that would really push Adobe into the next 581 00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:06,400 Speaker 1: level of its development. It's a product called Adobe Acrobat. 582 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:11,960 Speaker 1: So Acrobat, let's talk about. You know, here's one of 583 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:16,120 Speaker 1: the issues that we have with the whole digital versus 584 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:20,800 Speaker 1: hard copy formats. Right, if you have a digital format 585 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:24,480 Speaker 1: and you're trying to put it onto hard copy because 586 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,880 Speaker 1: of displays, you know, the different different resolutions, different sizes 587 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:33,279 Speaker 1: of displays. Uh, sometimes what you would see on your 588 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,239 Speaker 1: computer would not be what you would get if you 589 00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:39,080 Speaker 1: send it to a printer. You you couldn't end if 590 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,560 Speaker 1: you were to open that same document. Uh, if you 591 00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:44,400 Speaker 1: were to create a document in a in a program 592 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:46,840 Speaker 1: and then open that same document on another computer, perhaps 593 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,960 Speaker 1: it has a different version of that program, then the 594 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,719 Speaker 1: layouts could change. So let's say that you have a 595 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:59,280 Speaker 1: publishing software program and your buddy has a later version 596 00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:02,760 Speaker 1: of that same program, and you create this, uh, this 597 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:07,520 Speaker 1: this really nice layout for a flyer that you wanted 598 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 1: to to distribute. Send it to your buddy because your 599 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,960 Speaker 1: buddy has access to a really awesome color printer. Your 600 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:17,000 Speaker 1: buddy opens it up on a newer version of that software. 601 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,399 Speaker 1: But because it's a newer version and there have been 602 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:22,799 Speaker 1: changes made since the version that you use to create that, 603 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 1: it might change the layout, and suddenly that awesome flyer 604 00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:31,399 Speaker 1: you made looks really amateurish and it just doesn't look right, 605 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:35,000 Speaker 1: and it either requires you to create an inferior product 606 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:39,120 Speaker 1: or to spend even more time fixing problems that shouldn't exist. 607 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:45,840 Speaker 1: Adobe developed a file format proprietary file format that was 608 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:50,440 Speaker 1: designed so that once you laid things out in the 609 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,160 Speaker 1: way you want it, that's how it would stay, and 610 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:58,400 Speaker 1: it was independent of whatever platform you were using, and 611 00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:02,680 Speaker 1: a be Acrobat was sort of the first step towards that. 612 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:08,560 Speaker 1: It was the portable document file or PDF. And uh, 613 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,880 Speaker 1: PDFs are they're very useful because once you design the 614 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:16,320 Speaker 1: way the PDF looks, and you said it that way, 615 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:19,880 Speaker 1: that's how it's gonna look from that point forward, assuming 616 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:21,759 Speaker 1: you're not you know, going in and opening it up 617 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:26,160 Speaker 1: and editing it afterward. So Adobe Acrobat was sort of there. 618 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 1: It was the this this major project that would create 619 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:36,560 Speaker 1: this PDF file format of eventually and what's interesting is 620 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:41,120 Speaker 1: that it would eventually become the standard for that kind 621 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 1: of production file. So at this at this time in 622 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,120 Speaker 1: they hit a revenue of two thirty million, They had 623 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:54,440 Speaker 1: seven D one employees, and uh, it was it was 624 00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:59,240 Speaker 1: really kind of the yet another launching point for Adobe. 625 00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:01,680 Speaker 1: I mean, it's an other point in their history where 626 00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:05,759 Speaker 1: they really started to um to establish themselves as a 627 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:08,920 Speaker 1: dominant force because you know, the whole font thing was 628 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:12,399 Speaker 1: starting to slip away from them, but they were able 629 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:18,560 Speaker 1: to stay on top through the publishing side. Yeah. Now, um, 630 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:22,560 Speaker 1: back in there were a couple of companies named macro 631 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:26,320 Speaker 1: mind para coomp an author ware that decided to merge 632 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:31,239 Speaker 1: and um they basically had been working on a piece 633 00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:34,880 Speaker 1: of software called Director, which was a tool that people 634 00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:39,080 Speaker 1: would use to create an interactive content for information kiosks 635 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:42,960 Speaker 1: and cd ROM uh, you know, basically cd ROM packaging 636 00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:47,560 Speaker 1: or you know the video that was on the disc itself. UM. 637 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:52,840 Speaker 1: And they decided to call this company Macromedia. And UH, 638 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:55,920 Speaker 1: you know, you if you're if you're new to technology, 639 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:59,080 Speaker 1: you may not necessarily have heard that name. But Adobe 640 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:03,080 Speaker 1: certainly was aware of this company, especially after the in 641 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:06,200 Speaker 1: the mid nine nineties, the Worldwide Web started to become 642 00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:09,279 Speaker 1: a place to do stuff, you know, a place for 643 00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:14,040 Speaker 1: people to go and uh, especially for UH. I mean, 644 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:18,320 Speaker 1: they had several different technologies that competed directly with Adobe products. 645 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:24,120 Speaker 1: For example, UH Illustrator, which is the vector h illustrating program. UM. 646 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:28,160 Speaker 1: Macromedia had a Freehand program that was the name of 647 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:33,600 Speaker 1: the software was Freehand, which was the direct competitor UM 648 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:35,880 Speaker 1: and of course that was a thorn and Adobe side. 649 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,840 Speaker 1: But what they really wanted to try to accomplish with 650 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:44,319 Speaker 1: something very much like Macromedia's shock Wave and Flash technologies. UM. 651 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:49,640 Speaker 1: So this was UM, these these technologies were these these 652 00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:53,080 Speaker 1: companies merged and around the time that Adobe was really 653 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,279 Speaker 1: getting a Foothold and UH in desktop publishing. And during 654 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:01,080 Speaker 1: this time, UM or after it directly after that, they 655 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:03,040 Speaker 1: had made a name for themselves for all these different 656 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:09,160 Speaker 1: photoshop and illustrator software like that. UM. So suddenly, you know, 657 00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:14,719 Speaker 1: Adobe finds itself faced with a very capable competitor UM, 658 00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:17,080 Speaker 1: and especially for the web. They also came up with 659 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:23,239 Speaker 1: another tool UM called Fireworks, which I was excited to 660 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:27,200 Speaker 1: use because I'm no no graphic designer by any stretch 661 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:30,320 Speaker 1: of the imagination, but UH, I was doing some simple 662 00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:32,800 Speaker 1: banner ads and things that that at that point around 663 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:34,920 Speaker 1: the time that that came out in UH in the 664 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:39,560 Speaker 1: mid nine nineties, and UH Fireworks there wasn't anything like 665 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:42,960 Speaker 1: it for on the Adobe side because it was sort 666 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:48,160 Speaker 1: of a combination of vector graphics and bitmapped graphics so 667 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:50,359 Speaker 1: that you could use the tools that you would use 668 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:53,120 Speaker 1: to to build things. UH you can resize them to 669 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:55,640 Speaker 1: any any size you needed and then convert it to 670 00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:59,400 Speaker 1: a a raster file for use on the web. So 671 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:02,320 Speaker 1: if you had to make UM ads for a website 672 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:03,640 Speaker 1: like I did, and you had to make them in 673 00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:07,600 Speaker 1: multiple sizes like I did, UM, you could turn stuff 674 00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:11,600 Speaker 1: around very very quickly, and so Adobe found itself going, 675 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:15,400 Speaker 1: wait a minute, these guys are these guys are pretty good? Um, 676 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,719 Speaker 1: and that all started with the merger of those two 677 00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:22,120 Speaker 1: companies in and around around According the information I've got, 678 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:27,200 Speaker 1: that same year, Adobe acquired non Linear Technologies, which made 679 00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:32,239 Speaker 1: handwriting recognition software, and they also acquired O c R Systems, 680 00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:36,960 Speaker 1: and o c R stands for Optical Character recognition. So 681 00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:40,880 Speaker 1: in both of these cases, you're talking about, uh, companies 682 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:44,399 Speaker 1: that create software that allow a computer to take one 683 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:49,160 Speaker 1: form of input and UH interpret that as text. So 684 00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:53,720 Speaker 1: UH that was you know, clearly they were thinking about 685 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:59,239 Speaker 1: adding onto this whole digital publication model they were they 686 00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:03,239 Speaker 1: were pursuing. That same year, they shipped Adobe Dimensions one, 687 00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:08,160 Speaker 1: which was a three D rendering software, So ah, they 688 00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:11,440 Speaker 1: were really getting into what was considered to be the 689 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:15,839 Speaker 1: future of publication. UH. They also shipped a product called 690 00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:20,399 Speaker 1: Streamline three, which automated the conversion of bitmapped images into 691 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:23,959 Speaker 1: PostScript line art. UH. And at that year they were 692 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:29,279 Speaker 1: making two sixty six million dollars with eight eight seven employees. Now. UM. 693 00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:33,280 Speaker 1: In ninety three, that's when Adobe officially introduced the portable 694 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:37,520 Speaker 1: document format PDF. That was the same year that A 695 00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:42,920 Speaker 1: a a company called Hummingbird Limited. It's Canadian company that 696 00:43:43,239 --> 00:43:48,120 Speaker 1: produced something called common Ground. The common Ground was exchange 697 00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:52,680 Speaker 1: software that would convert Windows or mac document types into 698 00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:56,560 Speaker 1: a proprietary file format called digital paper. While that might 699 00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:59,759 Speaker 1: sound familiar to you, because that's kind of what the 700 00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:02,960 Speaker 1: p the f foul format is all about. So common 701 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:08,680 Speaker 1: Ground launched an ad campaign that was anti PDF, anti 702 00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:12,800 Speaker 1: Adobe Acrobat to be specific, and ran all these different 703 00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:15,640 Speaker 1: ads saying that Adobe Acrobat was bad, and then it 704 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:17,799 Speaker 1: was you know, no one should use it, and it's 705 00:44:17,920 --> 00:44:21,080 Speaker 1: it's going to create a monopoly and all this kind 706 00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:23,759 Speaker 1: of stuff. Um, yeah, they were. They were the to 707 00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:28,600 Speaker 1: use um tech marketing lingo. They were the eight pound guerrilla. Yeah, 708 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,239 Speaker 1: of of graphics and desktop publishing at the time. So 709 00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:35,560 Speaker 1: digital paper if you're not familiar familiar with that term, 710 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:37,839 Speaker 1: but you are familiar with PDF, I think you can 711 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:42,200 Speaker 1: see how this battle turned out. Un pound gorillas crush 712 00:44:42,239 --> 00:44:46,400 Speaker 1: either smaller animals. Yes, yes, the the weak guerrilla was 713 00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:51,319 Speaker 1: stomped beneath the andrew pound guerrillas feet. But yeah, the 714 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:55,760 Speaker 1: the PDF file format did in fact become the industry standard. 715 00:44:55,760 --> 00:45:01,120 Speaker 1: Digital paper did not, And that same year Adobe shipped 716 00:45:01,239 --> 00:45:04,600 Speaker 1: the very first version of Photoshop that was available for Windows, 717 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:10,320 Speaker 1: which of course was Photoshop two point five. So Windows 718 00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:13,200 Speaker 1: users and Windows users get finally get a chance to 719 00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:19,040 Speaker 1: use Photoshop. Uh, and the Acrobat actually officially ships in 720 00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:25,719 Speaker 1: June of UM also the first version of Premiere, which 721 00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:29,640 Speaker 1: is there again their video editing software for Windows, ships 722 00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:32,320 Speaker 1: that year, so it was Premiere one for Windows, whereas 723 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:35,359 Speaker 1: Premiere three for Mac came out that same year. Yeah, 724 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:38,560 Speaker 1: it took it took a little while before the Windows 725 00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:43,160 Speaker 1: products um from Adobe caught up to the Mac products 726 00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:46,160 Speaker 1: just in terms of in development, but it wouldn't be 727 00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:49,120 Speaker 1: long before they were basically working on the same version. Yeah. 728 00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:54,400 Speaker 1: Again you're talking about, you know, the Mac platform being 729 00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:58,720 Speaker 1: seen as the the destination for video and audio editing 730 00:45:59,320 --> 00:46:03,000 Speaker 1: and even into some extent desktop publishing. It was just 731 00:46:03,239 --> 00:46:06,200 Speaker 1: seen as that that was more of a Mac type 732 00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:10,520 Speaker 1: use case, whereas the PC was more kind of seen 733 00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:14,759 Speaker 1: more as like a spreadsheets and database management that kind 734 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:17,520 Speaker 1: of thing. Um. It was an interesting perception which to 735 00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:21,319 Speaker 1: some extent still extends to today. I still know that 736 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:23,440 Speaker 1: there are I mean, I know plenty of people who 737 00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:28,600 Speaker 1: work in video publishing who have used both Max and 738 00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:37,440 Speaker 1: PCs to create video, but have a ah strong opinion 739 00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:41,000 Speaker 1: about which one is superior, you say that, or at 740 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:45,319 Speaker 1: least which one they prefer. Uh. So, Yeah, they were 741 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:49,560 Speaker 1: making three million dollars that year, and they hit nine 742 00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:55,200 Speaker 1: hundred employees. But there's always room for one more. That's 743 00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:59,480 Speaker 1: for my haunted mansion. Peeps. Nice, thank you. So a 744 00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:01,480 Speaker 1: ninety or is a big year, and that's the year 745 00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:06,319 Speaker 1: we're going to conclude this episode of Adobe our story 746 00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:11,320 Speaker 1: about Adobe, because ninety four was when a few things happened. 747 00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:14,040 Speaker 1: One was that Adobe started a venture capital fund called 748 00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:18,120 Speaker 1: Adobe Ventures. Venture capital is all about finding businesses and 749 00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:21,920 Speaker 1: investing in them, uh through self interest. I mean, you're 750 00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:24,520 Speaker 1: not doing it out of some sort of you know, 751 00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:26,279 Speaker 1: because you think you're going to pay off in the 752 00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:28,200 Speaker 1: long run. Right, You're not doing it just because you 753 00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:31,640 Speaker 1: you you have this warm spot in your heart. You're 754 00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:34,480 Speaker 1: doing it because you're thinking, Hey, this business is working 755 00:47:34,520 --> 00:47:37,879 Speaker 1: on something interesting. It had it relates to what we do, 756 00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:40,960 Speaker 1: it would behoove us to invest in this company so 757 00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:44,120 Speaker 1: that perhaps one day they will produce something that we 758 00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:47,799 Speaker 1: can then scoop up and devour. Although they probably don't 759 00:47:47,800 --> 00:47:52,120 Speaker 1: say it like that, uh, They also acquired a company 760 00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:55,759 Speaker 1: called Laser Tools, which is another company that was all 761 00:47:55,800 --> 00:48:00,239 Speaker 1: about scaling different fonts. So Adobe still not out side 762 00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:04,520 Speaker 1: of out of that. And then they merge with that 763 00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:11,160 Speaker 1: company that Chris alluded to earlier, Aldus, which was an 764 00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:14,919 Speaker 1: electronic publishing giant at the time. Yeah, they they really 765 00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:19,839 Speaker 1: developed an opportunity to to fit together well, um with 766 00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:23,839 Speaker 1: their complementary technologies, and I think that that Aldus really 767 00:48:23,880 --> 00:48:26,759 Speaker 1: had a shot at competing with them head on. But 768 00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:32,400 Speaker 1: you know, ultimately they decided to to join up to 769 00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:36,040 Speaker 1: take on the other competitors out there. And one of 770 00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:39,640 Speaker 1: the one of the big employees over at Aldis, his 771 00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:42,840 Speaker 1: name was Bruce Chisen, and Bruce Chisen would become a 772 00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:46,879 Speaker 1: very important person in Adobe. Uh in just a couple 773 00:48:46,880 --> 00:48:49,200 Speaker 1: of years. In fact, he had a sort of meteoric 774 00:48:49,360 --> 00:48:52,840 Speaker 1: rise in the company. UH. And the new company, the 775 00:48:52,960 --> 00:49:00,000 Speaker 1: merged company between Adobe and Aldis, was named Adobe Systems Incorporated. UH. 776 00:49:00,640 --> 00:49:03,719 Speaker 1: It updated that same year, made updates to pretty much 777 00:49:03,719 --> 00:49:08,279 Speaker 1: its entire line of products, and the revenue hit five 778 00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:12,600 Speaker 1: nine millions, So they hit over a half billion dollars 779 00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:16,759 Speaker 1: and had one thousand, five seven employees. Now granted a 780 00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:19,560 Speaker 1: lot of that was due to the acquisition the merger, 781 00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:23,480 Speaker 1: but that kind of sets the stage for part two 782 00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:27,200 Speaker 1: of our story about Adobe, when things really start heating 783 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:30,480 Speaker 1: up and we get into yet another Adobe Apple spat 784 00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:34,839 Speaker 1: the fonts was just the there was round one. Round 785 00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:39,760 Speaker 1: two is going to take uh focus on a product 786 00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:43,680 Speaker 1: we've already mentioned but that does not yet belong to Adobe. 787 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:46,440 Speaker 1: So stay tuned. You can find out more. And if 788 00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:49,120 Speaker 1: you guys have any suggestions for episodes that we should 789 00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:52,120 Speaker 1: cover here on tech Stuff, you should let us know 790 00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:55,680 Speaker 1: because otherwise we're just gonna guess. But if you let 791 00:49:55,719 --> 00:49:57,759 Speaker 1: us know, you can sess an email. Are at just 792 00:49:57,920 --> 00:50:00,319 Speaker 1: this tech Stuff at Discovery dot com or less know 793 00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:03,240 Speaker 1: on Facebook and Twitter are handled there as tech Stuff 794 00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:05,160 Speaker 1: hs W and Chris and I will talk to you 795 00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:10,200 Speaker 1: again about Adobe as it turns out really soon for 796 00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:12,680 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it 797 00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:17,960 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot Com