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Subject:Re: FrameMaker on Linux From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 28 Nov 2000 11:53:35 -0800
Dan Emory wrote:
>
> Adobe has just announced that "it has been unable to make the business
> case" for FrameMaker on Linux platforms, and that the free Beta licenses
> for that platform will expire on 31 December 2000.
>
As I posted to the Framer's list, I suspect that the beta was a
political compromise between pro-Linux and anti-Linux people at
Adobe. It was the lamest beta that I ever saw, with only one
questionnaire in ten months. And Adobe couldn't even send someone
six blocks to exhibit at Linuxworld in San Jose last August. The
fact that no reason is given for the beta - nothing about a lack of
interest, for example - makes me more convinced than ever that the
beta wasn't really serious.
I suspect that the strongest reason is that Adobe, unlike Sun or
IBM, is oriented towards selling software rather than services, and
so views the open source aspects of Linux with distrust. However,
had the company looked a little deeper, it would have found that a
market for proprietary software does exist in Linux, and it could
have had the chance to get in on the ground floor; I suspect that
the way Frame is put together would be very appealing to Linux
users.
For anyone left stranded by the decision, I suggest:
a.) the use of a Windows emulator: vmware, win4lin, plex86 or WINE.
b.) Open/Star Office: not much better than MS Word, but adequate.
c.) Kword: a Framemaker-like tool, but still in the early stages of
development.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
604.421.7189 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
"This is the hour when the city turns blue,
This is the time of the lost and found,
They've loosed the nutters in the Underground,
Everything's far and nothing is true."
- Oysterband, "The Lost and Found"
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