Harry Waldman (*) a former printer and a respected Scitex customer wrote this article- putting Efi Arazi (Scitex & EFI) in the same category of visionaries as Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple, Pixar) and Chuck Geschke (Adobe).
“…Almost 25 years ago Efi Arazi and his company, Scitex, ushered in a whole new world harnessing the power of the computer to manipulate and color correct images for print. More than a decade before Adobe Photoshop began its reign over image editing, Efi moved our industry into the digital age. I can vividly recall trade show crowds of the early ’80s staring in awe at Scitex terminals as the magic of the digital age unfolded before them.
My company was an early Scitex customer and that’s how I eventually met Efi. It all came about because I insisted that there was a problem with the system architecture. Unlike today’s inexpensive computers armed with a $700 copy of Adobe Photoshop, a Scitex terminal was about $500,000, in addition to all the other stuff that brought the cost of a total system into the millions of dollars. My argument back then was that the terminal was cost-effective to do what we referred to as magic (image manipulation and cloning) because of the high premium you could charge customers for this unique service (at that time)….”
Appeared as Printing Impressions-February 2003 Column
“Redefining Visionaries as Heroes”
(*)Waldman Graphics an early pioneer in electronic pre-press, grew to be one of the premier printers in the Philadelphia-New York City-New Jersey area. The company was a test site for many top software and electronic imaging companies. After selling his company, Harry Waldman is now a consultant in the Graphic Arts industry.
Read the complete article on the Web: http://www.harrywaldman.com/February%2003.html
