Doc Doc : The Document Doctor

It’s not a secret that when it comes to the latest and greatest document conversion technologies, they all exist on Windows machines. For some this might be very frustrating. The OCR, Imaging, and Compression packages found for the Mac, Linux, and Unix, are very often ports of older versions of their Windows equivalent. On average, a Windows equivalent will be 3 or more versions ahead. This means big changes in accuracy, stability, and core-functionality. The reason this happens is simple, the initial development of these applications (engines) was on Windows, and the vast majority of the demand is also Windows.

So what happens in an environment that demands accurate document conversion but is not a Windows based system? Not all is lost. While in a perfect world all the latest technology would be on your platform of choice, sometimes you have to make exceptions, and this is not a big one to be made. Because document conversion, and compression products are all designed to have a mode where they run unmanned, it is possible to utilize the technology on a Windows machine but drive it from ANY other platform. Once configured, the stability of a dedicated document conversion machine is very good. They require low maintenance and very little interaction. Simply by networking folders for all other machines to see, no matter the platform, you can from any network device transfer images to your document conversion machine and download results.

OCR itself takes about 50 man-years to develop, so I don’t foresee in the near future technology on other platforms that is at the level of Windows machines. But what I do know is there is no reason NOT to leverage the most advanced technology with a method of set it and forget it automated document conversion machines.

Chris Riley – About

Find much more about document technologies at www.cvisiontech.com.