WTF is WRONG with adobe?
Out of context: Reply #8
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- stewdio0
Hmmm... Here's an idea. Who else here is a programmer? And who has a rich uncle? Because I think with a little bit of money, a good workspace, and a bumpin playlist we could build a light-weight Ruby and Javascript based replacement for InDesign no problem. Saves file data in a compressed JSON format, an open spec that we make very public so other groups can build their own add-ons or competing apps. Isn't Ruby just for web stuff? Nope. It's a really malleable language that ships with OS X so if you're a Mac user you already have it installed.
Wait. Shouldn't a "real" app be built in C++, Objective-C, or some statically-typed language that gets compiled for a specific hardware / OS? Fair point. That approach has a real track record for building speedy apps. But Ruby is much more elegant than C. When picking a sans serif you don't just reach for Comic Sans do you? No. You do not. (I hope.) You pick the thing that's elegant. And hey, if Quark 1.0 could run on computers in 1987 we can build a stripped down Ruby-based replacement that runs smoothly on today's machines. That's a start.
Yea, I know. A little home brew group might be able to store some vector data and text, but really how does that stack up against InDesign? Illustrator? And how would you ever beat Photoshop? I don't know. Probably not so well for the first year or two. But man... How sweet would it be to try? And it's not like I have something against Adobe. I've relied on their software for years. It's enabled me to make some really cool stuff. But I think it's time for a new era.
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