Newspapers and magazines. (Computer Publishing Conference '90: Gathering on the trail to digital communication)

Newspapers & Magazines The newspaper and magazine Conference session focused on the success stories of three users who discovered how worthwhile it is to build systems from desktop and off-the-shelf components. Each user approached the problems in different ways. But in all three cases, the resulting systems had a familiar look to them and produced excellent results and considerable savings.

The difference a year can make. Tamara Westmark, who had a strong effect on the audience when she spoke at the Seybold Seminars last March (see the Seybold Report on Publishing Systems, Vol. 19, No. 14, p. 10), gave an update on the work being done at Time Inc. In March, she told a success story about a new system she had assembled (as an in-house project) for a new magazine, Entertainment Weekly. This large Mac-based system is networked to provide full pagination. Although it cost far less than a traditional vendor would have charged, its price tag was still significant: slightly more than $1 million.

Westmark's next challenge was to duplicate this system's functionality for about 10% of the price. How can you build a system one year later for 90% less? Obviously, the new system wasn't the same size--it was much smaller. And because, unlike Entertainment Weekly's, this relatively sophisticated (but not necessarily complex) system would have no "system manager" to look after it, it was not networked. But the system was modular and, in Westmark's words, "portable." It could easily be moved or duplicated for many other magazines.

This approach provided an excellent test bed for a …