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> Even if you are the most overoptimistic help author, you could not say
> RHFM fueled the Macromedia purchase; RHFM was at best an unintended
> consequence of the purchase of eHelp. Nope. The best you could say is
> that Macromedia wanted RoboHelp--a fact that I'd say is in serious
> doubt. Perhaps MM wanted RoboPDF or RoboDemo--I'd certainly say
> help-authoring software is not something Macromedia would seem to be
> interested in, and I'd suspect they'd shoot for a PageMaker/InDesign
> competitor for marketing and publications before taking a chance on
> help authoring.
I'd say you're right on here. Macromedia probably wanted RoboPDF and
definitely RoboDemo to get it off the street or consume it (as
RoboDemo competed directly with Macromedia). RoboHelp was a perk - a
mature product with a positive revenue stream. I don't doubt they'll
continue it (probably under RoboHTML and not give much of a damn about
a Word filter), though probably with only a handful of people working
to fix critical bugs and implement a few new features as time allows.
Let's face it, RoboHelp works as advertised, and unless new help
technologies come down the pipe at an alarming rate, I don't see the
need for RoboHelp to be coninually beefed up. Macromedia will probably
make enough money on maintenance plans, upgrades, and new sales on
limited tweaking of the code base.
RoboHelp for FrameMaker, on the other hand, is brand-spankin' new,
doesn't have a huge footprint, and therefore has less profit and more
overhead associated with it. Macromedia may think that it's not worth
continuing based on this, and the fact that they are working on
technology that leverages their biggest competitor's technology. Had
the acquisition not happened, I'd think RoboHelp for FrameMaker would
have seen many years' of customers. But now with Macromedia owning it,
I really don't see a solid business case for continuing it.
My thoughts from the rim...
I have no insider knowledge... I'm just calling it as I see it.
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