Vector Thrusting in Ferrari

Ok, the post title is misleading, just so that my absurd effort sounds cool. What I did was make a fat matchstick-vector-ferrari-fan. I know, sheesh.


This is a gross devaluation of Illustrator's capabilities, and also of my potential. ;) I used to think that the pen tool was a pain, but then I saw this really old video on youtube, in which John Warnock demonstrated the capabilities of one of the earliest versions of Illustrator, and the ease with which he used it caught my fancy. As you can see, I have caught on!

More vector art thrusting its way through to you in the future!

Labels: Adobe, Print, Software

Naming Software (Or naming blog posts??)

Most software companies pay no heed to giving interesting names to their software. Microsoft is probably the worst i'd say. Take 'Office' for example. How obvious is that? I still remember that in a quiz in Modern School, we were asked, "Which software made by Microsoft, is named after one of the buildings in their complex?". I believe I need to explain the general psyche of people taking part in these quizzes. There were free chocolates for being funny, and there was a particular hot chick of modern school sitting in the front row, who used to giggle when people gave funny answers. Do I need to elaborate?? I don't think so.
So, our unanimous decision was "Office". Unfortunately, the quiz master thought it was a good guess despite our honest intention of sounding funny, and as the girl didn't have a brain of her own, we didn't get any giggles either.

The point to be noted is that, (well the answer was Outlook) companies can be pretty unadventurous with the christening of their software. Some companies fare a little better, like Adobe (I'm referring to the erstwhile Macromedia here). Most of their software have very hip and gen-x names. Flash, Shockwave, Flex, ColdFusion. The list is endless. However, none, I repeat none comes close to Ahead Software Inc. Does that ring any bells? Ever burnt a CD with Nero?

When we first realized the connection, we were spell bound to say the least. The name was so perfect, it had the perfect connotations, the ROM(e), the fiddle, the burning! It was so amazing that our instant reaction was to include this as a question in the upcoming Panache! (I have to add that we did feel like idiots when we saw that the Nero logo clearly shows the Colosseum on fire..), but we were impressed nevertheless..

We seldom realize, that a thing as simple as the name of the software can be a great insight into the kind of people who worked on the software! The only vision I ever get of the people at Ahead Software is that of an Intelligent, fun-loving lot..

So much for my visions of people at Microsoft!

If you are still wondering what I am talking about, read this...

Labels: Software