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Re: Rumor about Framemaker - is it true?

Subject: Re: Rumor about Framemaker - is it true?
From: Dick Margulis <margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 17:02:17 -0500




Bruce Byfield wrote:

[snip]


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.

Bruce, there is a real risk that the program would indeed become less usable--the very next time Microsoft introduces a new version of Windows. The impetus for the constant so-called upgrading of much application software--and I assume this applies to FrameMaker, too--is that older versions are incompatible with newer operating systems. And new hardware is invariably shipped with new operating systems.


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.

The proprietary response to open source software is the code escrow system. Large customers invariably demand that, as a condition for purchasing software, the code base be placed in escrow, against the risk that the software vendor will discontinue support or go out of business.

Small customers may not have the leverage to demand an escrow agreement. However, once the escrow is activated (when Adobe abandons the product, if they do), the large companies that get copies of the code have a choice. They can, individually, assign the maintenance and updating of the code to their own development resources; or they can donate the code to an open source repository. It seems to me the latter course would cost much less and make more sense.


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


An that's certainly a reasonable position to take, even if it doesn't help all those people who are already heavily invested in FrameMaker.

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Follow-Ups:

References:
RE: Rumor about Framemaker - is it true?: From: John Fleming
Re: Rumor about Framemaker - is it true?: From: Bruce Byfield

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