And now, a word from FrameMaker product management…
Posted today on the Adobe TechComm blog by Aseem Dokania, FrameMaker product manager:
I have noticed discussions on some blogs and mailing lists regarding the future of FrameMaker. Let me assure you, as the Product Manager of FrameMaker, that FrameMaker is here to stay. We would do what it takes to keep FrameMaker at the leading edge of technology.
Aseem also requests feedback, and I know my readers have opinions, so get those comments going, either here or directly on his post.
About the author
John Rankin
It appears the ability to comment on that post has been turned off. If I had been allowed to comment, here is what I would have written.
I am pleased to see that 9 of the 16 comments identify a Mac OS X version as the most important feature and would like to add my voice to the chorus. The 2 options suggested in Mike Perry’s post are particulalry interesting. I suspect that to “update the NeXT version for OS X” is easier said than done, but I agree a native FM for OS X would be the preferred option. I would also take his second option — FrameMaker under Crossover Mac — slightly further. If a native OS X version is not practical, then I would like to see Adobe sell a FrameMaker/Crossover bundle, in the same way it sells the FrameMaker/WebWorks bundle. That way, as a customer, I would have some degree of confidence that the installer would create a fully working system “out of the box” — and that Adobe would stand behind it if there are problems.
See http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/
Commercially, a FrameMaker/Crossover bundle would be a low cost, low risk way for Adobe to “test the Mac waters” — if it sells in sufficient numbers, Adobe could then make a business case for creating a native Mac OS X version; if it doesn’t, then we Mac users can hardly complain. Adobe could test the Linux waters in the same way, although my guess is that the FrameMaker/OS X market is currently bigger than the FrameMaker/Linux market.
My company uses FrameMaker 7.0, the structured version, for everything we write — letters, envelopes, short papers, and long reports. The structured features mean formatting is consistent and as a writer, I don’t have to think about appearance. We started using FrameMaker (unstructured) with version 5.0 (just pre-Adobe) and switched to structured FrameMaker when version 7.0 came out.
If Adobe announced a version of FrameMaker for Mac OS X, either native or guaranteed to work under Crossover Mac, I would place an order immediately.