The event itself follows the typical MacWorld format, with conferences, workshops, demonstrations and keynote speeches, but because the Spanish Mac community is spread out, the event provides a unique opportunity to beta-test new software and troubleshoot because so many Mac professionals are on hand.

We spoke to Enrique Aguirre in Malaga, part of Spain's Costa del Sol, renowned throughout Europe's pastier climes, as in tourist literature, for its predictably glorious weather and amazing seafood. He is the creative director for Essential Marbella Magazine, through his company, the Art Room (targeted to foreign residents and visitors to the Costa del Sol). Enrique is glad they committed to Macs early, citing productivity advantages over Windows systems for DTP, such as being able to undertake all the prepress work for clients, including scanning and color separations, without having to reinvest in additional color separation equipment.

They currently run G4 1GHz Macs with 20-inch TFTs (flat screen monitors) running on OS X for the bulk of the design work, in addition to a G3 that handles scanning and remains available for legacy applications.

As is often the case with magazines in the U.S., editorial is generated on iMacs and text and images from various sources are transferred to design and incorporated into the workflow. For images, they embed an ICC profile to ensure color reproduction after the layout, and then traffic the proofs for approval via PDF.

OS X hasn't caught on for most pre-G4 users in Spain because it means a productivity lapse, but now that a native version of Quark is available, that will bring more Mac hold outs along to the new OS, says Enrique: "Most users I know that have converted did so because they were Ôforced,' either by the need for features only available to software that is OS X native (ie: digital cameras and Photoshop), or after purchasing new Macs requiring OS X. When you are happy with your computer it makes little sense to start messing about with it."

Sven is the founder of Mind-Probe (www.mind-probe.com), currently living in Esplugas, about 30 miles from the center of Barcelona. He says business is booming for his website design and Flash animation company. "We are constantly booked out and expanding - competition is high in volume but low in quality," he says confidently. Originally from the Dominican Republic and Florida, he is pleased to be in a place that shuts down every day from 2:00 to 5:30 PM because "everybody is taking their little siesta."