Newsgroups: comp.fonts
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!lsuc!sq!lee
From: lee@sq.sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin)
Subject: Re: Economist article on Ecotype typeface design
Message-ID: <1991Jun11.041626.10675@sq.sq.com>
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
X-Feet: bare
References: <4lsh!qd@rpi.edu> <1991Jun7.152116.15777@slhisc.uucp> <1991Jun09.151311.5596@dircon.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 91 04:16:26 GMT
Lines: 33

uad1077@dircon.co.uk (Ian Kemmish) writes:
> jlister@slhisc.uucp (John Lister) writes:
>>  wrf@mab.ecse.rpi.edu (Wm Randolph Franklin) writes:
>>> The May 24-31 issue of The Economist has a 2 page article on the design
>>> of their new [PostScript] typeface -- Ecotype.  [...]

>> A most frustrating article--it only told half the story!  What I wanted to 
>> know was why do they *fax* the printed output?  [...]

> I expect they are used to people faxing individual articles to each
> other.

No.

Newspapers have their own specialised fax machines, which are considerably
bulkier than their office-dwelling counterparts.
The newspaper fax machines have a high resolution, and it is common
practice for a newspaper to fax the day's issue to an office in another
country for local printing.  This is how I read the Financial Times in
Toronto, or the Guardian in southern Spain, or any of a number of other
papers.  And, quite frankly, if there's a loss of quality it's not large.


So switching to sending PostScript would involve a change in technology at
both the transmitting office and at the receiving site,  The retention
of the fax necessitates no change of the recipient's equipment.

Liam

-- 
Liam Quin, lee@sq.com, SoftQuad, Toronto, +1 416 963 8337
the barefoot programmer