D Revolution is going through some exciting changes.

Firstly, we are looking at expanding.

We are going to be deploying and maintaining a few open source packages like;
ResourceSpace (a Digital Asset Management Program) – http://www.montala.net/resourcespace.php
GLPI (an Inventory Management interface for your hardware and software) – http://glpi-project.org/?lang=en
OCS (an inventory scanner used in conjunction with GLPI) – http://www.ocsinventory-ng.org/

These will be deployed as appliances built on on the excellent ReadyNAS Pro platform.
With one of these devices, you will be able have a very large file server (7.5TB), FTP server, iSCSI target for backup as well as a DAM for managing all your assets.
see – http://netgear.com.au/Products/Storage/ReadyNASPro.aspx
The ReadyNAS Pro is due to ship on 15 November.

Secondly, we are now offering a migration to Google Apps service.

We migrated to Google Apps 3 months ago as a trial for our clients and so far the system has been excellent.
Spam filtering is best in class – it is easily catching 1000+ spams per month per address with less that 10 spams per month getting through.
The online wordprocessor and spreadsheet is good enough for my needs which allows for sharing of data as well as offline access with Google Gears.
see – http://gears.google.com
All access is via either a https (secure connection) on the web or imaps/smtps (secure connection) inside of both Apple mail on the workstation or the iPhone mail client.

We can migrate your domain email away from your current provider to Google Apps.
This can be either the free service which comes with 200 email addresses each with 7.25GB of space or the paid version which comes with 90 day backups, support and 200 email accounts each with 25GB of space.
See the difference – http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/editions.html

Call us to find out if it is right for you.

Lastly, our rates are due to rise.

We will be increasing our prices effective January 2009.
Our last rate increase was on July 2005.
The main reasons for the increase are inflation and travel costs.
The average cost has risen 50% since July 2005.

Our rate sheet as of January 1 2009 will be;

$165 per hour for our standard support service.
$135 for our pre-paid support service.
$135 per hour for remote support*
$200 per hour for training.
$90 per hour travel outside Sydney CBD

* For remote support, D Revolution will first have to implement a secure hardware VPN which means you need ADSL2 as well as compatible hardware.
Compatible hardware includes either the Netgear DG834G or DGFV338 ADSL2+ routers.
Call us for more information.

If you want to save money on support there are 2 options.

1. Buy some Bill Bill credits before the price rise.
2. Opt for remote support. If a problem can be fixed remotely overnight, you pay a reduced rate that also has a lower minimum time.

PUBLISHING NEWS

Adobe have released CS4.
see – http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/creativesuite/design/

With the new release, the big change is applying some photoshop filters is done via the GPU.
With a faster video card with 128MB or more of RAM, this will speed up some operations up to 1000%

Quark have released Xpress 8.
see – http://8.quark.com

The new release focuses on interface changes reminiscent of Macromedia Freehand.
Also QuarkXpress now works with .AI files as well as .PSD – a welcome addition.
There are also enhancements to job jacket to allow large teams to collaborate easier.

Extensis have released Universal Type Server.
see – http://www.extensis.com/en/products/universaltypeserverlite/what-is-it.jsp
This will allow organisations to sync font sets across machines as well as audit installed fonts etc…
Whilst most of my clients now use FontExplorer – it does have it’s limitations.
Font Explorer can not replaces override system fonts, does not have temporary activation and has issues with mixed sets (postscript and truetype/opentype mixes together)

OEM partners finally deliver PDF Print Engine2 RIP’s.
see – http://www.adobe.com/products/pdfprintengine/
For the last 20 years, the publishing industry has relied on PostScript as the language for RIP’s.
This has become a bottleneck as Postscript does not understand transparency, ICC profiles etc…
Programs like QuarkXpress and Adobe Indesign both produce transparency and can embed ICC data, but this information had to be stripped or transformed during the RIP process. With the new RIP’s, files can be sent through un-flattened with all the transparency in place – as well as make use of better compression with JPEG2000.
AGFA, FujiFilm, Kodak, SCREEN and Xanté all have PDF ready RIPS’s.
Ask your printer if he is using PDF Print Engine2

GENERAL NEWS

For people sick of MYOB, there is now an online subscription solution that has been available in the UK and NZ for the last year and as of 30 September it is now available in Australia.
see – http://www.xero.com

The video tour is very impressive and iphone support looks like a winner.
I have started testing it over the last few weeks.

So far, it has performed very well and rather quickly considering it is hosted.
The only downside currently is the cost is $49 per month and that does not include any payroll.
If you are doing this manually, this wont be an issue.

I did find it could not import my chart of accounts from MYOB – it currently only imports from the NZ version.
After sorting out the chart of accounts and starting balances it as been very good.

Stay tuned for more information…

All services supplied by D Revolution are subject to a 10% GST, and include a Tax invoice.

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