Tips and Bits

Thanks!

It’s Thanksgiving this week in the US. Many companies will post messages this week to customers thanking them for their loyalty. We are no exception. The Pageflex User Conference earlier this month was a vivid reminder of the creativity, intelligence, and passion that our customers bring to the variety of cool projects that they produce using Pageflex software. We do appreciate your work and your loyalty. And wish you a happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Over the past week I’ve been thinking about how I am grateful for the Bitstream type and MyFonts teams that have co-existed with the Pageflex team during the decade I’ve been with the company. In our US office we sit intermingled. The folks on the type and MyFonts teams add to the flavor of the office. The energy, individual quirks and characters, the Monday morning weekend stories, and the kitchen chatter. Not to mention the silly type-inspired Yankee swap gifts that bring laughter at our holiday party each year.

At nearly every tradeshow I’ve attended at least one person stops by the Pageflex booth and reminisces about visiting the Bitstream offices years ago or the fonts that they buy from Bitstream. It has been a continual reminder that strong typography has always been at the heart of our Pageflex composition tools.

I’ve met graphic designers at cocktail parties, reunions, and on the playground who don’t know Pageflex, but whose face lights up when I mention that our sister product line is My Fonts. They excitedly tell me how much they love the site and how awesome the WhatTheFont type identification tool is. I always feel a bit more hip after these conversations.

And then there are the regular internal “Tip of the Day” emails from our type colleagues in India that have taught us what a Glyph Origin, CamelCase, hinting, and countless other industry terms mean. And, of course, the stories of the early days of Bitstream.

As we now embark on creating separate businesses, it seems like a fitting time to remember our shared history. So this holiday I send a “Thank You” and “All the Best” to our font and MyFonts colleagues!

A Message from Pageflex

For over 10 years, Pageflex has been part of the Bitstream organization. We joined Bitstream as an independent entity in 1998 and in 2006 we became an official subsidiary.

Last week, Pageflex marked a new chapter and will now become an independent company. Subject to regulatory approval expected early next year, Bitstream's font business will be sold to Monotype Imaging. Once the Bitstream/Monotype transaction is approved, Pageflex will be traded on NASDAQ under the provisional name Marlborough Software Development Holding Inc. (MSDH).  

As an independent company, Pageflex will be better able to focus on the needs of our customers and the marketplace. The dedication we demonstrated at the Pageflex User Conference, held earlier this month, is an example of this level of commitment to customer satisfaction and delivering on our promises. Our plans for development, our committed staff, and the open lines of communication we highlighted at the user conference are the foundation on which this new organization is built.  

We will continue to keep you posted on the exciting changes that lie ahead for Pageflex!

 

Pageflex is Hiring!

Pageflex is looking for some talented people to join our team in Marlborough, Massachusetts!

We're looking for new team members in pre-sales, professional services, and training. A list of all open positions and descriptions can be found here.

Pageflex offers a first-rate benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401(k) with company match, short and long term disability, paid holidays, vacation, and sick time.

For consideration, please submit a resume and cover letter along with salary requirements to careers@bitstream.com.

 

Pageflex Welcomes Our New Press-sense Colleagues and Customers

Hello, I'm Anna Magliocco-Chagnon, President and CEO of Bitstream. Today we announced the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Press-sense, including the IP. This is an exciting point in the history of Bitstream. I want to welcome the Press-sense employees, customers, partners, and distributors to Bitstream.

 

We have committed to continue iWay and Press-sense manager product development, maintain the Press-sense office in Israel, and continue to support the OEM partners and customers that have chosen to make the Press-sense iWay and Manager technologies a major component of their production workflow solution. The Press-sense products will join Bitstream’s Pageflex publishing product line.

HP, Océ, and Xerox have all expressed support for Bitstream as the new owner of the iWay technology and we expect to continue and expand these relationships.

Some of our Pageflex customers also own a Press-sense product. We know that the recent months have been anxious ones for Press-sense customers as you awaited word of what would happen with Press-sense. We hope that you will give us the opportunity to support you and work with you during this transition.  We look forward to hearing your feedback on how we can further develop our software to meet your needs. There are many things we have not had time to address yet. We ask for your patience as we work through the details and integrate our teams.

Among other strengths, Pageflex is known for its knowledgeable, friendly support team and powerful, published APIs and SDKs that enable and simplify the process of extending our products and integrating them with third-party systems. We fully intend to invest necessary resources to bring these two qualities to our new iWay products. To that end we will retain nearly all of the current Press-sense employees. They know the technology intimately, they know you well, and they know your concerns and needs.

Our initial focus will be on stabilizing the iWay product, addressing immediate functionality issues (those pesky bugs), and actively supporting those of you who are on current support contracts.

We have posted an FAQ at press-sense.bitstream.com along with additional information. I further welcome your feedback and questions here and at iWay-acquisition@bitstream.com.

Follow Pageflex on Twitter

Are you on Twitter?  We're now @pageflexinfo, and we'll be tweeting about industry news, marketing trends, tips for succeeding with brand management, web-to-print, VDP, and PURLs. And of course we'll post Pageflex product news that we think our Twitter followers would like to know. I invite you to follow us.

We'd love to hear about your Pageflex experiences, links to public sites you've built with Pageflex, and your thoughts on marketing and document production in the 21st Century. We're using #Pageflex for general Pageflex discussions and #Pageflex75 for ones specific to 7.5, our newest release.

Can you recommend any Twitter feeds that are worth following for good information on web-to-print, variable data, pURLs, etc? We're looking for worthwhile feeds to follow. So, if your company has a feed or you have one you like, leave a comment and let us know who to read!