Re: Rumor about Framemaker - is it true?

Subject: Re: Rumor about Framemaker - is it true?
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 13:44:58 -0800


I don't know, or even particularly care, if the rumor is true. However, I do want to make a couple of points.

First, although rumors of FrameMaker's demise have circulated for at least the last decade, this time they may be self-fulfilling. The fact that Adobe has abandoned the Mac does suggest that the company sees FrameMaker as an increasingly marginal product, not worth supporting. If enough people panic, then other platforms may soon be unsupported as well. I'd guess that the UNIX version would be abandoned first, then the Windows verison - and then only if massive desertions happened.

Second, if Adobe did abandon FrameMaker development or support - so what? The program would be no less usable than it currently is. And anyway, when was the last time anybody phoned technical support for FrameMaker? I think that most people would post to the mailing list before contacting Adobe.

I also can't help pointing out that this sort of situation highlights the shortcomings of using proprietary software. If FrameMaker or any other proprietary software ceases development, you can't do very much. You can petition the company to change its mind, but Adobe - and most other large companies - haven't been very responsive to customers in the past, so you can't expect very much from such efforts. By contrast, if the developers of an open source project abandon it, then you can always find other ones to take it over. If you represent a company, you can even hire someone to continue development.

Really, it's situations like this one that are driving me and a lot of others away from proprietary software.

--
Bruce Byfield
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield

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RE: Rumor about Framemaker - is it true?: From: John Fleming

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