PDF先驅、Adobe聯合創始人去世：“誤入”計算機行業的文科生

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Adobe公司在官網發文稱，公司聯合創始人Charles Geschke（查爾斯·格施克）博士於美國當地時間4月16日去世，享年81歲。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"image","attrs":{"src":"https:\/\/static001.infoq.cn\/resource\/image\/b9\/cb\/b9598d88775b3d1375cf358dff1cc7cb.png","alt":null,"title":"","style":[{"key":"width","value":"75%"},{"key":"bordertype","value":"none"}],"href":"","fromPaste":false,"pastePass":false}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen（山塔努·納拉延）在寫給員工的郵件中表示，這是整個公司和技術行業的巨大損失。過去數十年Geschke一直指引着公司的發展，是英雄般的人物。他持續爲公司注入創新動力，帶來最具變革性的軟件發明，包括今天廣泛普及的PDF、電子文字處理軟件集Acrobat、圖形制作軟件Illustrator、圖像處理軟件Photoshop以及視頻剪輯軟件Premiere Pro。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"從PostScript到PDF"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"據報道，Charles Geschke大學本科時學習拉丁文和古典文學，曾經考慮過當牧師，他在上世紀60年代接觸計算機編程這事多少有些偶然性。1972年，在威廉·沃夫（William Wulf）的建議下，Geschke在卡內基·梅隆大學（Carnegie Mellon University）完成了計算機科學博士學位。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"畢業後他在硅谷的施樂公司研究中心開始了新的工作，在那裏，他認識了同事John Warnock（約翰·沃諾克）。他們共同研發了一種軟件，能將電腦屏幕上的文字和圖像處理成印刷文件。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"兩人於1982年辭職離開施樂並創立了Adobe，公司名字來源是John Warnock房屋後面的一條小溪。他們的第一個產品是Adobe PostScript，這是專門爲打印圖形和文字而設計的一個編程語言，引發了桌面出版的革命。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Geschke和Warnock後來還因開發可移植文檔格式（Portable Document Format，簡稱PDF）而聞名。PDF是一種與應用程序、操作系統、硬件無關的文件格式，它以PostScript語言圖象模型爲基礎，無論在哪種打印機上都可以保證精確的顏色和準確的打印效果，即PDF會忠實地再現原稿的每一個字符、顏色以及圖象。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"PDF主要由三項技術組成："}]},{"type":"bulletedlist","content":[{"type":"listitem","attrs":{"listStyle":null},"content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"派生自PostScript頁面描述語言的子集，用以生成和輸出圖形；"}]}]},{"type":"listitem","attrs":{"listStyle":null},"content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"字體嵌入\/替換系統，可使字體隨文件一起傳輸；"}]}]},{"type":"listitem","attrs":{"listStyle":null},"content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"結構化的存儲系統，用以綁定這些元素和任何相關內容到單個文件，帶有適當的資料壓縮系統。"}]}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"從1993年到2006年，Adobe Systems數次更改PDF規範並添加新特性。PDF早期是Adobe專有格式，直到2008年才作爲開放標準發佈，之後由國際標準化組織志願者產業專家委員會控制。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Geschke在2011年的一次演講中回憶起早期他擔任Adobe總裁、Warnock擔任首席執行官時說：“我們坐上了一艘火箭船。\"Geschke表示，他從來沒有學過商業，只讀過一本商業書籍，這本書向他介紹了尋找市場上未被滿足的需求或空白的目標。他說，Adobe找到了其中之一，“缺口很大”。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Geschke於1986年12月至1994年7月擔任Adobe首席運營官，並於1989年4月擔任總裁，直至2000年4月退休。1997年9月至2017年1月期間，他與Warnock共同擔任董事會主席。在2020年4月之前，他一直是董事會成員。爲表彰他的技術成就，Geschke博士被授予國家技術與創新獎章、IEEE計算機學會的計算機企業家獎和美國電子協會的榮譽獎章。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Adobe重大轉型"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Adobe在過去發展中有一個重要的舉措，那就是將一次性付費用戶轉化成訂閱用戶。從銷售產品轉向訂閱服務，可以理解爲現在炙手可熱的SaaS模式。押注於雲，可以算是Adobe做過最成功的決策之一。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"2011年之前，Adobe主要通過第三方經銷商來銷售Creative Suite（CS）套裝軟件。由於經歷了2008年的金融危機，以及宏觀經濟的疲軟期，低端用戶市場需求下降，導致公司營業收入和淨利潤顯著下滑。在這樣停滯不前的時期，Adobe做出了重大決策，轉換商業模式，從出售軟件許可證向雲服務公司轉型。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"2012年，Adobe嘗試性推出了Creative Cloud（CC）雲服務，客戶可以包月訂閱。2013年，Adobe宣佈CC將成爲今後主力，全力推動雲訂閱轉型；2015年4月，Adobe Document Cloud正式上線，之後又升級爲Acrobat DC，從套件變成訂閱。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"2007財年，Adobe公司的訂閱服務收入僅4100萬美元，在公司超過35億的收入裏，佔比不到1.2%；產品銷售的收入超過33億美元，佔比接近95%。但是隨着公司不斷推動訂閱模式，到了2014年，以SaaS服務爲主的訂閱收入已經全面超過產品銷售的收入。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"從用戶角度看，訂閱付費是一筆劃算的買賣，原來需要高價買一款軟件，現在可以按月\/年來付款，也能用到更多、更新的軟件。對開發者而言，買斷制就是一錘子買賣，難以獲得持續穩定的收入。而訂閱制可以帶來更穩定的收入，對優秀軟件的持續研發也會更有激勵作用。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"如今我們身處的時代可以說是“萬物皆可訂閱”，訂閱服務亦不知不覺間成了商業世界最重要的收費模式。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"在截止2020年11月27日的2020財年，Adobe的營收增長了15%，達到約130億美元，其中，訂閱收入增長21%，達到116億美元。截至3月5日的2021財年第一財季，數字媒體部門營收爲28.6億美元，同比增長32%，其中創意業務營收增長至23.8億美元，文檔雲業務收入增長至4.8億美元。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"PDF領域的創業機會"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"雖然Adobe在PDF領域的地位不可撼動，但它也並非毫無敵手。由於Adobe的PDF技術並不是爲移動平臺而設計，早期在Kindle上表現並不好，存在打開緩慢、經常死機、有些文件還會經常打不開等問題。因此該領域也存在一些競爭對手，值得一提的是一家打破Adobe對PDF技術和產品壟斷的挑戰者——福昕軟件，有些傳奇色彩的是，它在“死磕”近20年PDF技術後也成功上市了。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"之所以把PDF文檔作爲創業的主攻方向，在福昕軟件創始人熊雨前看來完全是“機緣巧合”。他在一次媒體採訪中透露，自己團隊曾接到一筆PDF文檔顯示業務。彼時，熊雨前向Adobe尋求技術授權，Adobe要求先交5萬元押金。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"但那時候福昕軟件還是一家小公司，面對Adobe 較爲苛刻的商業條款，熊雨前只能選擇自主研發。通過一年多時間的研究與開發，2004 年底 Foxit Reader1.0 版本問世，很快成爲當年最受歡迎的免費軟件之一。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Adobe軟件因爲規模大而全，閱讀體驗非常差，閱讀一頁文檔往往要加載幾分鐘。而福昕軟件選擇底層主要使用 C 語言，上層採用 C++ 語言進行編寫，保證了軟件運行的效率，使軟件整體運行快速並且 CPU 資源消耗更少。另一方面，也能迎合市場發展趨勢，覆蓋 iOS、Android 等主流移動平臺。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"隨後的近二十年裏，福昕軟件一直專注於 PDF 這個特定領域，不斷地自我重構產品，並持續在技術上進行投入。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"如今，多家互聯網巨頭均將福昕軟件的產品技術應用於其主要產品中，比如亞馬遜 Kindle 產品、谷歌 Chrome 瀏覽器、谷歌 Android 移動平臺、微軟 SharePoint 平臺等等。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"除了福昕，Adobe在PDF產品領域的競爭對手主要還有Nitro、Kofax（原Nuance圖形圖像業務）以及萬興科技。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"延伸閱讀："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/news.adobe.com\/news\/news-details\/2021\/Adobe-Co-Founder-Dr.-Geschke-Passes-at-81\/default.aspx"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/adobe-co-founder-charles-geschke-pioneer-of-desktop-publishing-and-pdfs-dies-at-age-81-11618765264"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.infoq.cn\/article\/bib9edi2kddqm7zwhnsu","title":"xxx","type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"《死磕PDF技術20年：海外賺錢國內上市，碼農創始人終成億萬富翁》"}]}]}]}