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This rumor has been on-going for years. Question: will we die. Answer:
everyone dies eventually. No one involved in the process of creating the
next release of FrameMaker can talk aboiut it because of NDAs. However,
Adobe reps have talked about the planning and move towards a FrameMaker 7.
Will that be the last version? Who knows, but given FrameMaker's development
cycle, that's at least another 4 years of productivity. And, Ventura and
Interleaf users suffer the same rumors . . . maybe not the MS Word folks,
but they are still listening to rumors about fixes for Master Docs, list
numbering, and the like . . ..
What FrameMaker+SGML in particular (and FrameMaker 7 reportedly) is
positioned for is a move to XML, should XML ever mean anything to
publishing. In any event, a tool is just a tool. If FrameMaker or Word or
Ventura or Interleaf goes away in 4,6, 8, or 10 years, just apply your
skills to the new tool-du-jour.
BTW, why do we need to "beat some sense into Adobe"? I doubt they started
the rumor.
Best regards,
Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stops -at- qualum -dot- com [SMTP:stops -at- qualum -dot- com]
>
> Ever since I discovered FrameMaker and learned what a wonderful tool it
> is,
> I've been afraid that it would be terminated. This of course is because
> of
> clause 2a of Murphy's Law: "If something is a wonder to behold, its
> continuing existence will not be tolerated for long."
>
> My fears were heightened when at a recent conference I read the founder of
>
> Adobe saying: "As long as I'm at the helm, FrameMaker's future is safe." -
>
> or words to that effect.
>
> Sure enough, yesterday, at a local tech writing course that a colleague of
>
> mine is attending, the rumour went round that FM is being discontinued,
> due
> to "insufficient demand in the marketplace".
>
> A rep of the local importer has rejected such rumours as "nonsense". That
>
> pretty much confirms it to me.
>
> Anyone else heard the same? Any way we can beat some sense into Adobe?
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