Some quirks about NPOs (Non-Profit Organizations):
It’s not always feasible to have everyone in the office up-to-date on all software and technology. So, we have one license for Quark, which is a page-layout program. The T-shirt designs were done as Quark files, and since my computer is the only one with Quark on it, that’s why I had to help Julie and Michael find the T-shirt files to send to the printer. Previous to this year, Theresa did all the graphic design on the computer I’m using now, but she left the company at the end of 2007 and I switched to her computer so I’d have a nice fast computer (half our machines right now are old and slow).
However, we did get some money to upgrade some technology items, so we will be getting some new computers this month, and we just received an upgrade to our Windows and Microsoft Office software in the mail this week, which will allow everyone in the office to have a page-layout program now (Microsoft Publisher), and we will stop using Quark for that purpose, so everyone can access all the files without a problem in the future.
A little software in business discussion:
We purchase as much of our software from Tech Soup as possible, because they offer through software publishers a large discount for non-profit organizations (restrictions do apply in some cases). Quark is not offered at a discount through them, which is why we only have one license. Microsoft Office is offered at a discount through Tech Soup, and the Professional Plus version of Office includes Publisher, a page layout program.
Personally, I find Publisher easier to use than Quark, and while Quark is a huge powerhouse of a program, Publisher suits what we do just fine (banquet programs, fliers, posters, brochures, the SSI yearbook). Quark is more suitable than Publisher if you were going to tackle something like a professional magazine. Adobe InDesign (formerly PageMaker) is also a great program, and while I think it offers a little more than Publisher and is easier than Quark as well, it still has a lot of bells and whistles that aren’t necessary for what we do. In addition to that, the license, while cheap through Tech Soup, is still more expensive than getting Publisher for every computer in the office.
So, from now on after we upgrade our software (hopefully by next week if I have the time), I’ll be spending a little time converting some of our Quark/PageMaker/InDesign files over to Publisher, so everyone in the office will be able to open and edit them.
That will actually save me a lot of time in the long run, as up until now I’m the only person with a computer that can open Quark, InDesign or Photoshop files, and only one other person can open PageMaker files (we happen to have 2 licenses for that software).
If you’re in a large company with lots of money, you may be able to afford to buy everything you want for every computer you have. If you’re in a non-profit and can’t even get Microsoft or other cheap products through Tech Soup due to no funding, there are other options like Open Office, which is free software. If you want to be global (or just not tied down to working solely in one office) try Google Apps or another web-based software. While the web-based apps are a little trickier because they require an internet connection, and their speed can be affected by your connection, you don’t need to install anything on your computer, and you can access all the files you save from any browser on any computer anywhere in the world.
