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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: aladin who wrote (99528)2/9/2005 10:59:48 AM
From: Ilaine  Read Replies (2) of 793647
 
In the early 1970's IBM had a mechanical typesetting machine that cost thousands, not millions. I used to use one, starting circa 1975. The guy I used to work for back then shut down his printing business and now teaches printing, typesetting, and graphic arts in a trade school.

When the Killian story broke I called him and asked him whether the machine he used to have was capable of producing the documents in question.

The answer was no, primarily because of the proportionality of the letters. In a word processor computer program that uses proportional fonts, each letter has its own space. In the mechanical typesetter, there were four (or maybe five) spacings. Lower case i had the same space as numeral 1 and lower case l. Upper case M had the same spacing as upper case W.

It was possible to kern letters (adjust the space between letters) but not as neatly as the alleged Killian memos. The kerning in the Killian memos is exactly the same as 12 point Times New Roman in MS Word. The mechanical IBM typesetter did not kern like that.

This guy has been making his living in printing since the early 1970's, formerly mechanical, now using computers. He'd qualify as an expert witness easily. And he doesn't blog.

But there are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
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