Today, Adobe will announce its "solution" for the current controversy among printers over placement of a "send to FedEx-Kinkos" button that was recently added to Acrobat software products. The feature, which allows users to quickly and conveniently send PDF files to Kinkos for output, has riled competing printers who are crying "foul" that Adobe would so prominently endorse any specific printing company.

Most likely Adobe's statement will be a painstakingly politically correct one that apologizes to the printing community, reaffirms the value printers have to Adobe, and points out that the original action was taken to "serve Adobe customers better," and not to create an exclusive relationship with FedEx-Kinkos.

Editor's note: To read Adobe's actual announcement, go to "Adobe Backs Down." Then come back here and see what you think of Gene's take on the matter.

But if I were advising Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen, I'd suggest he politely tell the printing industry to "grow up" and start thinking like a real business instead of a bunch of molly-coddled whiners set on blaming others for their self-created woes. Let's not forget that in the early days of PostScript, the printing industry fought hard against Adobe and others trying to turn page output into a commodity. 

Businesses make these kinds of deals every day and on a global scale -- it's how business is done. Will these same printers have any issues with taking a discount from United Airlines, the "preferred airline of GraphExpo" when they fly to Chicago next month? And even though they could certainly pay cash or use another card, would these printers pass up a the value-adds that come from using your Visa card at Disneyland, or your MasterCard at a Major League baseball game? No one is forcing any customer to send printing to FedEx-Kinkos. It's just a deal that makes sense because it's something Adobe customers do everyday. To me it's not much different than in the early days of PostScript when Adobe and Apple worked hard to offer print drivers for as many devices as possible, often scheduling first releases based on popularity and partnership arrangements. 

It's true that mom and pop printers don't have much of a chance against Adobe and FedEx-Kinkos, unless of course they provide a superior service to their customers, develop close personal relationships with their customers, or otherwise compete in the same ways every small business competes against international brands. What makes Mom and Pop think that because they buy a copy of Photoshop every few years they count as much as a customer to Adobe as FedEx-Kinkos does? Bigger customers get better prices, better service, and exclusive deals. That's the way capitalism works.

On National Public Radio Monday, July 30, Whattheythink writer and industry consultant Cary Sherbourne said that the Adobe FedEx deal was "like Ford Motor company putting a blinking light on your little electronic control panel in all of the Ford models that says, 'Your oil needs changing. Go to Jiffy Lube....' "

What would be so odd about that? If I'm not mistaken, when I bought my first Honda in the 1970s, it came with a brochure in the glove box advocating the use of Castrol GTX motor oil. And last time I bought a new washing machine, there was a little box of Tide detergent inside with some discount coupons. Cross-promotion among big customers is a basic formula for business success. Well, at least for big business success. Perhaps the printing industry doesn't want to be thought of as a big, mainstream business and prefers to be marginalized and "special."

What's sad to me is that the printing industry is crowing about "taking action" if Adobe doesn't end its deal with FedEx, as if they have some sort of entitlement because they depend on Adobe products to do their job. Take action? Like what, refuse to use Adobe products? Go ahead and try. Adobe has all the power here because the printing industry blew it decades ago when it tried to convince everyone you couldn't possibly create cheap software that did what they did. So instead of Linotype Photoshop, or Scitex InDesign, or Agfa Acrobat, we have Adobe products.

Printing industry suppliers held on to the concept of huge profit margins and exclusive relationships for too long. I find it ironic that this same industry is now looking again for special consideration instead of standing up and marketing themselves on their own merits. Is Adobe really responsible for the choices printing customers make? If that is the case, the printing industry may as well just pack it in and go home. Don't printers realize that designers and other creative professionals are the ones who specify most print output? Do they believe an art director or print buyer will sacrifice quality or service just because of a new menu item?

I went to college in the '70s in Southern California and patronized Kinkos when it was run by a bunch of stoner hippies making copies for 3 cents apiece. They didn't grow to become an international force by whining about the competition. They grew by offering a better service at a better price. And they made some savvy deals with the copier companies who were accustomed to charging on a per-page basis instead of monthly. But by forging a new machine-leasing model, Kinkos brought huge advantages to other printers, who also were able to lower their costs. Had the big copier companies caved to pressure from the traditional printers the result would have been higher prices and less competition.

By making printing a "push-button" option in Acrobat, Adobe is finally doing what the printing industry has been talking about for too long --bringing a distribute-then-print mindset to print buyers. All printers will benefit from this important change in consumer behavior, and quite frankly, only companies the size of Adobe and FedEx-Kinkos can get the job done.

In an era when graphic artists are looking for ways to improve their value to clients and at the same time cut down on pointless waste, time-consuming shipping and energy-sucking storage, printing at the point of distribution makes great sense. Of course it would be wonderful if Adobe would build a commerce system where every small, medium and large printer in the world was hooked together and online as an output option in Acrobat. But that will never happen without some sort of financial incentive in the beginning. No one knows what the financial terms are between Adobe and FedEx-Kinkos, but you can bet that if the deal increases business then Adobe will be looking to expand into similar relationships with other printers after any exclusive period is over. 

The printing industry continues to think like the U.S. auto industry did while foreign competition ate their lunch. "We can't compete. People don't understand what we do. We've done things this way for hundreds of years," etc., etc. Meanwhile, companies like FedEx-Kinkos are delivering better service at better prices and in more locations, because they don't think like printers. The opportunities for printers are not going to come through protectionism, any more than they did for the auto industry. They are going to come from innovation, partnerships, good customer relations, and better service.

Adobe has always considered the creative professional its main customer, and moved well beyond the printing industry early on to create value in mainstream markets. Had more printers and more printing industry suppliers done that with their products and craft, they might not be in the jam they're in today. The outcry from the printing industry regarding the Adobe/FedEx deal has demonstrated to me that not much has changed in the last two decades. Printers are still thinking too small and are too narrow-minded to get out of the rut they have dug for themselves. 

Gene Gable has spent a lifetime in publishing and the graphic arts and is currently a technology consultant and writer. During the DTP revolution he served as publisher and president of Publish magazine and then as president of the Seybold Seminars tradeshows, conferences, and publications. He has written for publications such as Print, U&lc, ID, Macworld, Graphic Exchange, AGI, and The Seybold Report. His regular column on vintage graphics, "Scanning Around with Gene," can be viewed at http://www.creativepro.com/articles/author/127525.