1999.06.09 22:00 "Re: Large File Support", by Dan Smith

As psmith and I have already stated, our respective companies ARE up against it NOW, although it is not yet a crisis... just an anxiety lurking under the bed.

The way it arose here was: we make a (really good) imagesetter (called the StingRay, http://www.ecrm.com/, email sales@ecrm.com, or anywhere better imagesetters are sold) that can image up to 25" wide by 8' long at up to 3556 dpi. So we were about to print that in our specs. And someone conscientious said, "Before we do, let's make sure we REALLY can 25" wide AND 8' long AND 3556 dpi. Go have someone set that up." And someone on the software side had to say, "Sorry, Dave, I can't do that." It really makes the mechanical and optical engineers and the marketing people cranky when they have a machine that could do something neat if only it weren't limited by that pesky software.

We've had customers that needed 25" wide and customers that needed 8' long and customers that needed 3556 dpi, but so far nobody has needed all three of them at the same time. It doesn't take a Cassandra to see trouble ahead, though.

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