EP Diary Forum

Even Bulgaria has PhotoShop

Ten or twenty years ago, overseas clients would ask me to come to their countries and describe the latest American high tech. They wanted news about the newest inventions in computers, communications and imaging, and they figured they were years behind North America in technology.

Today, it's completely changed. International publications like MacWorld and ComputerWorld are everywhere, trade shows like Comdex and Internet World are global, and the net connects every country's upper management types in a worldwide yuppie kaffee klatsch.

I had lunch with two Bulgarian printers a couple of weeks ago. They have the latest PowerMacs and scanners, they knew all about Chromapress and Indigo digital presses, and they were working on their web sites. They were as wired--and more motivated--than most U.S. printers, and looking to compete in the U.S. and Europe as low-cost producers.

Nowadays, overseas audiences already know all about new technology; what they need to learn is how U.S. hotshots are applying the technology and what kinds of new businesses are sprouting up. Everybody's got the same news, now they need analysis.