Barbara Hart, independent publisher, VA, wrote: In my business, Publications Professionals LLC, we use both PCs and Macs-and frequently go back and forth between the two platforms. We receive manuscripts from authors who use many types of software, but Microsoft Word is in the majority (Perhaps because it is easier to go back and forth between Macs and PCs using Word).
As the manuscript advances toward print (or publishing on CD-Rom or on the Web), many other pieces of software are included. Some books that are only text can be made into camera-ready pages using just Word. The more complex the contents, the more software used, including (but not limited to) these: Excel, Photoshop, PageMaker, Quark Xpress, many types of drawing or sketching programs, various programs that create graphs and figures, etc.
Most printers prefer Macintosh for pre-press preparation because they need all the powerful capabilities that Mac offers to the creative art process. PCs are preferred by people who use a lot of math and spreadsheets. I'm president of my company, and have to make decisions about which hardware and software are needed for each job.
Evan Kessler wrote:Just eighteen months ago I was an advertising sales person with no personal access to a computer at work. Some of the departments including circulation database for our four magazines, accounting/billing, editorial and the art department had to have computers to do their job. The owners of our small company were very resistant to change and did not see the value in sales people having computers.
Over the past nine years my responsibilities had grown from selling ads in two magazines to four and I was responsible for calling on approximately 500 existing and/or prospective customers regularly. I had been doing his by phone and ALL of my information was either hand written on notes or mostly in my own memory.
When I finally was given a computer workstation it gave me access only to a DOS based sales tracking software program. My Pentium PC had no hard drive thus I could not use other valuable programs that I knew could make me more efficient. This was a great help because I could now keep my notes in the computer for my calls and more importantly I had a call reminder feature so that I knew when to make my next contact with this customer.
In June 1996 our small company was bought by a significantly larger one with an understanding and appreciation for the latest in technology. My computer was upgraded to include Windows 95 and Microsoft Office 95 and I was added to the company's WAN (Wide Area Network) network. This immediately made many significant changes in my ability to do my job. Being able to do letters, which I would have written (illegibly), for one our secretarial staff to type was one of the biggest differences. Having e-mail to and from my associates throughout the entire company and the ability to use e-mail with my clients has perhaps been the biggest change of all.
One year ago, I was promoted to Publisher of one of our magazines and my responsibilities have grown tremendously. I can not imagine doing my job now the way I had been doing it all those years and just a few short months ago.
Just last week my magazine went online with a web site that I believe will add an entirely new dimension to my product.
While I still do not consider myself computer proficient the things I have described have helped immeasurably to make me more efficient. I now use word for writing letters, e-mail, I have used Excel to schedule an itinerary for a business trip and I can surf the web to access information about my customers, my competitors, and the industry that I am involved with. I was actively involved in the development of our web site for it to be specific to the needs of our market.
Soon, I expect to be using a laptop when I go on sales trips and will learn to use PowerPoint to make dramatic sales presentations.
I hope this story dramatizes the difference using a computer has meant to me in my work.