Segments: Slices From the Macintosh Life
A History of Using Macs
We have been Mac users since '84, when we bought a Mac 128K, single floppy drive & ImageWriter to
do our technical documentation for a high end Hewlett Packard based software package. Over the years
we upgraded our Macs constantly and now have stabilized on PowerBook 3400/240's which are just
too cool.
We got into databases with what was then Nashoba's FileMaker database, loved it and stuck with it for
many years as Claris took it over and it became FileMaker Pro. About 4 years ago we moved to 4th
Dimension. It took a lot of learning but it was well worth the move. Today we use 4D (on Macs, although
it is now cross-platform) to do contract developing. Somewhere along the way we realized that we had
learned a lot about 4D and started to self-publish a series of guides to the more advanced aspects of 4D.
The 4D market is small compared to FileMaker Pro and therefore we couldn't publish our guides
conventionally—so we did it all in house.
Using FrameMaker 3, then 4 and now 5 we published our first guide about three years ago as the 4D
Advanced Guide. A second edition followed, and later a third. The guide was written on our Macs, edited,
proofed and published. We printed the first few copies on our HP LaserJet 4MV, then created a master
from the 4MV and had it photocopied in bulk.
All sales were handled on the Mac, we wrote our own invoicing system in 4D, and even handled credit
card authorizations from within 4D using Apple Events and MacAuthorize. Our voice-mail is MegaPhone
on a Mac, our faxing all handled direct from Mac. We even do all our UPS shipping through our own UPS
rate calculation/manifest/shipping system we built in 4D.
Earlier this year we created our first web-site using Adobe PageMill 2.0 and have been generating a
steady revenue stream ever since. Claris Emailer 2 handles all our e-mail quickly and easily. We have
also linked our 4D database to Emailer via Apple Events—so we can quickly keep our customer base up
to date.
As the volume of material on 4D grew and grew we decided to make the fourth edition of our guide a
digital version, on CD. Using Frame we created PS files, we then use Adobe Distiller to turn these into
PDF files, complete with a hypertext table of contents.
Toast allows us to burn our own CD's in house. On the Mac we can create hybrid CD's which run on
MacOS or Windows—something that is nearly impossible on a PC. The price of blank media has dropped
to about US $3.50 per disk. This makes in-house production viable and cost-effective. By using CD-R's
we can produce small batches of CD's, about 10 at a time, keeping stock in hand low. We can also update
very quickly.
Today we publish a range of guides and tools for 4D Developers and we owe most of our success to our
Macs. We just couldn't be this productive and efficient without them.
Steve Hussey is CEO of Alto Stratus LLC. The Segments section is open to
anyone. If you have something interesting to say about life with your Mac,
write us at <editor@atpm.com>.
Also in This Series
- About My Particular Macintoshes · May 2012
- From the Darkest Hour · May 2012
- Shrinking Into an Expanding World · May 2012
- Growing Up With Apple · May 2012
- Recollections of ATPM by the Plucky Comic Relief · May 2012
- Making the Leap · March 2012
- Digital > Analog > Digital · February 2012
- An Achievable Dream · February 2012
- Smart Move? · February 2012
- Complete Archive
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