>> IMO, everyone should be doing everything they can to eliminate printing,
wherever possible. I've
>> been on a 12-year crusade with various organization to which I belong to
eliminate paper copies
>> of forms, wherever possible. iText is a serious contribution to bringing
this ideal closer to reality.
This reply is off-topic, but very relevant.
<!-- START RANT -->
The supposed move to a "paperless, printless" world, is as narrow minded as
it is ignorant.
The printing industry is the largest single industry on the planet.
In America it employes more people than the automobile industry.
With $83+ billion in annual revenue employing nearly 1 million people.
If a 25% drop in new home sales in America can create a recession felt
around the world. What do you think
would happen if 1 million people lost their jobs and 3% of the GDP
evaporated into the "paperless world" would do.
85% of American printers are small companies employing less than 20 people
with 46% employing
less than 5.
Who does you think they are attacking? Small business people earning a hard
living on razor-thin
profit margins working hours that would make the rest of the world cringe.
Besides, people don't want to be "paperless" they want to use less paper.
When I turn printing off on my online pdf proofing system, I had a customer
outrage.
As long as humans have hands and eyes, there will never be a "paperless"
world. We are rather
a touchy feely race. We like to hold things in our hands and see them as
they really are, not only
represented in a virtual world.
Nowhere is the line between virtual and reality more blurred than in the
typographic world.
As developers we need to learn to bridge, not eliminate the differences
between the digital and the
virtual world in a way that allows our customers to enjoy the best of both
sides.
<!-- END RANT -->
-Bill Ensley
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