RE: Influencing Adobe on FrameMaker

Subject: RE: Influencing Adobe on FrameMaker
From: "walden miller" <wmiller -at- vidiom -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 13:34:21 -0600

> The cavalier way in which Adobe has been abandoning support for Unix
> platforms without advance warning is unconscionable. Versioin 6.0, the
> first major release in 4 years, was a vast disappointment. It is almost
> certainly the final release before Adobe puts FrameMaker into maintenance
> mode where it will be left to die. After all, the FrameMaker code is
> already more than 12 years old, and I'm sure much of it is
> spaghetti by now.
>
> The real question, then, is whether it is possible to sustain the
> viability
> of FrameMaker /FM+SGML (and thus maintain most of the installed
> base) for a
> number of years after Adobe abandons it.

I don't know if any software company is willing to give up the money
involved with updates. Especially with such a popular product like Frame.
Adobe will probably continue to update FrameMaker with minor changes (i.e.,
absorbing third-party plug-in functionality) until they figure out a new
hook into Adobe or Frame-related products. The 5.x releases were all hooks
into Adobe or plug-in related features. The 6.x release is a hook into Web
publisher, plus their new book format. The 7.x release (a few years from
now) will be a hook into something else, no doubt.

> It might even be possible for the Frame user community to develop what
> amounts to functional specs for such enhancement products, and literally
> put them out for bid to third-party developers. If a respondent
> stated that
> he'd be willing to produce the product at a price of X dollars if
> he could
> get firm advance commitments for X number of licenses, it might
> be possible
> to set up a process for accomplishing all of this.

I am all in favor of creating a set of functional specs for plug-ins.
I have been looking at the Frame API in order to determine how hard it would
be to create the tools to do the jobs that I need. Creating a Frame Plug-in
Spec Forum would be a real bonus for any plug-in developer.

Creating plug-ins also lets Adobe know that their job is not yet done. As
long as an active third party plug-in community exists, Adobe should
recognize that the Frame feature set is still lacking.

Walden Miller
Director, Vidiom Systems
Boulder, Colorado





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