RE: FYI, FM for the Mac is Done.

["Domaschuk, Rob" <Robd -at- datalogics -dot- com>]

> but they're not growing the user base at all.
> So look to see FM gone in another 18 months.
> FM users, better get up-to-date on Word's Master
> Docs (ugh!) feature....


Good points, certainly, and you may well be right. Hopefully not, but we'll
see.

I guess there is some ambivelence here for me. I am a dyed-in-the-wool
FrameMaker fan. I got my ACE for 5.5.1, teach it for the Chicago chapter of
STC, use it daily for everything from long documents to short memos. I am
fortunate to work in an environment where knowledge of FrameMaker is a
requisite for everyone, from developers to QA, to.....

But, software applications come and software applications go. I remember
being the biggest fan of Lotus 1-2-3. I could also make PageMaker sing.
While my life will be easier if FM sticks around for awhile, I will simply
learn how the new "tech writing workhouse" operates and move on.

While the user base for FrameMaker may not be growing, it is still there and
I trust Adobe to recognize it. If (and when) they eventually drop
development of FM, I hope they replace it with something else - or enhance
an existing product to really ahndle long docs. I'd love to see InDesign
take on the role - with InDesign CS you can directly incorporate PhotoShop
CS and Illustrator CS files. How cool and handy is that? InDesign is a newer
technology (in terms of its code abse) than Frame, and I would expect it to
handle certain things (that many of us FM users complain about) better.

If Adobe develops a different product altogether, I'd expect it to be even
better since it would be even newer. Just let me write loooooong docs with
ease and incorporate a MIF Filter (and maintain their font handling
abilities).

If not, then Word it is. It's a tool, that's all; a tool I LIKE, but a tool.
I often tell people that if you put a scalpel in my hand then that doesn't
make me a surgeon, it makes me a lunatic with a sharp knife. Likewise, if I
am a surgeon, then the scalpel is just one tool in my reportoire.

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