Do years of typesetting count for nothing?

Yes, Michael George, it is bloody annoying (Letters, DW 24 January). I’ve been a graphic designer for 20 years and have spent most of that time working at a drawing board covered with galleys of typesetting. Three years ago I started to work with a computer. Liberation! Unfortunately, it was, and still is, a PC. And I too have had extreme difficulty in finding a new job.

Unlike George, I can understand why the industry is Mac- obsessed; it’s become the industry standard because it was the first to provide what graphic designers wanted, they’ve stuck with it and so have service suppliers.

I enjoy what I do, I do it well and don’t care which platform I’m using. Quark on a PC is little different from Quark on a Mac but because my professional experience of computers has been entirely Windows-based, two decades of typesetting become irrelevant to potential employers.

If I could afford it I’d buy a Mac or pay the few hundred quid it costs to be trained. I’ve been here before, 20 years ago, but it seems that this time around those fresh out of college have advantages that I don’t, like Mac experience!

Paul Mepham

Newbury District Council

Newbury

Berks RG14 5LD