While Adobe dominates several other markets and recently shipped a Mac OS X version of its flagship Photoshop 7 application, Quark relies heavily on the desktop publishing market to generate the bulk of its revenue. A lengthy delay in delivering OS X compatibility could hurt Quark's Xpress publishing package, which has been a staple of Mac publishers' toolboxes for more than a decade.

Premature Publishing

According to Quark, the lack of an OS X-compliant Xpress is not the result of wavering commitment to the Macintosh platform; rather, it stems from a host of technical limitations in the year-old operating system that ostensibly limit its usefulness as a publishing tool.

"Certainly, there are publishers who have moved to OS X, but for the vast majority it's not ready for professional production. Key printing features are missing, and in my experience, Apple will admit that when pressed," Quark communications manager Glen Turpin told NewsFactor.

Joel Friedman, executive director of the Heidelberg Digital Imaging Association, concurred.

"I survey our members on a weekly basis, and I have a pretty good handle on what software is out there. Overwhelmingly, they're on OS 9 because it's predictable and it works," he told NewsFactor. "And they're on Quark Xpress 4.x for those reasons, and because almost every one of their clients still supplies their jobs from that app and that version."

Stuck in the Ninth Dimension

Although the benefits provided by a UNIX foundation and Quartz graphics rendering make Mac OS X attractive for some design tasks, Friedman said, the operating system does not synchronize with the traditional publishing house workflow.

"They might have OS X installed on one or two Macs for their system experts and customer-service reps to become familiar with and to look at any customer files that may come in on OS X-native applications," he noted. "But for the jobs that go on press, they need to work in a stable, highly productive assembly line."

Cool, But Not Functional

The Aqua interface of Mac OS X has been praised for its slick animations and gorgeous icons but criticized for its monopolization of the processor and for some user interface (UI) behaviors.

"The larger the print shop, the more likely they are to have their own research for evaluating and adopting new technologies, including software revs," explained Friedman.

"Putting a piece of software into the production flow is never a function of the 'what's cool' factor," he added. "If it's cool and it's highly productive, it's in. If it's cool but not highly productive, it waits on the sidelines."

InDesign Not So 'In'

Despite Adobe's best efforts, including a US$300 rebate on InDesign 2.0 for previous Quark owners, Friedman said service bureaus and publishing houses are not making the switch.

"Occasionally, a client will walk in with or send in a file from InDesign, but it's been exceedingly rare, though increasing in little baby steps," he said. "Most of our members have InDesign, but it stays dormant on the workstation until the demand increases.

"That's not to say that InDesign's market share isn't increasing," he added. "It is, but from nil to almost nil to negligible, and [it] will probably continue on slowly from there."