I have recently found out that the Graphic Design field in Israel is held captive by Adobe!
A friend of mine is finishing his Graphic Design studies at Tiltan in Haifa and I asked him if they teach any software other than Adobe products. He said that everybody uses Adobe exclusively, so *there is no reason to learn anything else.* I say - any monopoly is a bad thing! He also said that the Open Source solutions out there are not as goodas Adobe products, so nobody uses them. I was sitting in my regular hangout cafe today and a guy walked in, opened his laptop and started to work on Graphic Design - and he was using GIMP, Darkroom and UFRaw - on Ubuntu. I started talking to him and he said he is a student from Germany and he uses Ubuntu and Open Source because he has no money and these are good enough for what he needs. That he doesn't feel the need to use Adobe products and, this way, he says, he will be able to give his future clients lower rates. The biggest problem in Israel, as I see it, is that very few freelance designers actually buy the Adobe Suite they use and if the want to work at *any* design shop they are required to use Adobe products *exclusively*. So, why would they even bother to study GIMP and other FLOSS programs?! My friend says that the only way to change this, is if design shops will require knowledge of Free Software - then Design Schools (like Tiltan) will start teaching Graphic Design using FLOSS.... Clearly, a vicious circle... I'd like to hold a Round Table meeting with FLOSS Graphic Designers and Non-FLOSS Graphic Designers (i.e. Adobe users) and Graphic Design Teachers to discuss ways to introduce FLOSS solutions to the Graphic Design field in Israel. Thought / pointers/ etc. welcome! Amichai Rotman
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