During GraphExpo one of my readers said that he enjoyed the baseball posts because it allowed him to better understand the writer of the blog. Well, this is another post that really does not relate to printing except for the fact it occurred during GraphExpo ‘08.
On Tuesday night a group of us vendor types followed Earl McGhee over to PrimeHouse. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of an evening of dining with Earl, let me just tell you he knows his food (particularly steak) and he knows his wine. Earl also calls Chicago home, so when he says a resturant is one of his favorite I say count me in! (unless I have a more pressing dinner with a client or some silliness like that.)
We had a great group of nine, and I did in fact enjoy an incredible bone in fillet (my first bone in fillet I might add) and some very good wine. The PrimeHouse specializes in aged meat, and makes a big deal about their Himalayan salt room where the aging (up to 75 days) occurs. During the ordering process one of our group joked with the server(Stacy) that we would like to see the salt room and then everyone laughed.
Marc Levine of the Color Management Group was sitting next to me and sort of issued a challenge to me suggesting I would be able to sweet talk our server into letting us into the room. I will conclude this post by saying a picture is worth a thousand words.
While attending/exhibiting at GraphExpo this week I was asked by my friends at WhatTheyThink.com to make a short comment on an industry trend. This video is the result.
Also, very soon I will re-read all my TwiterTweets from the show and compile them into a numberbed golden nugget post.
I have observed an interesting phenomenon in our industry over the last year or so. I have watched the spending of technology dollars shift from new technology purchases to the integration of existing technology in a custom workflow portal. I sense that customers are tired of all the pieces not playing nicely together. So, instead of waiting for the vendors to fix this problem they have gone about building their own internet based portals that tie all the pieces they like to use together.
I am writing about this now because in two weeks GraphExpo will be behind us. As always my main goal there will be presenting our products to the buying public, but I also plan to keep my eyes open for fellow vendors selling this strategy. For us it is not so much a strategy as what the ProofPass.com server technology was built for.
Us technology geeks can make almost any two pieces of software or hardware play nicely together, the process can be immensely painful and costly if the two pieces in question are not built to be open. Over the last year I have learned just how important this openness is as I have watched multiple customers of ours integrate a ProofPass.com server into their own internet based portal.
Here are some good questions to keep in mind as you look at new and existing technology at GraphExpo (or anytime for that matter);
- Is the product built with open source tools?
- Will the product run on a standard web server?
- Does the product make use of an SQL database that is not locked down?
- Will the vendor provide access to the architecture via third party products?
- Will the vendor provide source code for non-proprietary portions of the system?
I admit to being a bit biased because we can answer yes to all of the above questions as they relate to our server based product. I can tell you, however, that if I was buying technology in today’s graphic arts market, I would insist upon products and companies that answered yes to most if not all of the above questions.
A little background: last night the Brewers won avoiding playoff elimination and it was amazing. Today, they lost it sucked. Keep the aforementioned in mind as you read on.
#1. I profoundly thank Bud Selig for building Miller Park…you may love him, you may hate him, but this he did against all odds….try and argue this with me you will lose!
#2. I profoundly thank Mark Attanasio for buying the Brewers in 2004 and bringing winning baseball back to Milwaukee in my father’s lifetime.
#3. I thank both of the above gentleman for signing my Brewers cap last night. Don’t believe they both signed it?….ask me anytime in the next year- it will be in my possession.
#4. We have a friend who works for the Brewers…she is young enough to be our daughter…Cheryl and I now love her like she is our daughter. She remains unnamed for lots of reasons but because of her this was the best baseball season of our lifetime. You know who you are…when you need it (whatever it is) ask for it.
#5. The team…how could we not love you? come on! But….not coming out of your clubhouse for at least 2000 fans cheering you on….I do not get it. I was so upset by this I called talk radio. Ultimately the host agreed with me…like I care…I just wanted you to come out and tip your hats. You made baseball in Milwaukee a special thing again. We (all of us waiting and chanting…) simply wanted to say Thank You! It was really that simple.
There is so much more I could write…and I do love to write but I think I am done. Paying real money for tickets next year will be more difficult because you didn’t come out of the dugout after 162+ games of us cheering and crying and being there with you…but we will. Remember….for you it’s a game or a job or whatever…for us…it is a labor of love…we love baseball in Milwaukee…we really really do.
I’m done with baseball now until I take my awesome drop dead gorgeous wife Cheryl to Spring training so she can meet her idol Ryan Braun. I could go on and on about Ryan and all we have in common with him but I will not. Ryan, simply thank you for signing and staying for the next 8 years…we will cheer for you as long as you are here…win or lose. 
Spring training is just around the corner and Arizona is beautiful during OUR Winter!