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Re: Is RoboHelp still a viable way to go for help?

Subject: Re: Is RoboHelp still a viable way to go for help?
From: David Knopf <dklists -at- knopf -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 07:52:52 -0700


on 8/9/2005 7:15 AM John Cornellier wrote:


T.W. Smith wrote:

Macromedia laid off the RoboHelp development team.

Is there any documented evidence of this?

I guess that depends what you mean by "documented evidence." Surely, Macromedia has not issued a press release to this effect. It is public knowledge that the RoboHelp Product Manager left Macromedia to start a new company, and that many former members of the RoboHelp development team have joined this new venture. Ask Macromedia if they have laid off the development team, and they say they cannot comment on personnel matters--hardly the response you'd expect if Macromedia viewed RoboHelp as an important part of its product line.

Macromedia's RoboHelp group was a "no show" at the recent WinWriters conference (the most important Help authoring conference of the year); despite having paid for a booth, they sent only a box of brochures and sampler CDs.

An interesting article on the subject is available here:

http://www.winwriters.com/articles/rh/index.html

There was a lengthy discussion on the Macromedia forums here:

http://tinyurl.com/b63dh

In addition, there has been a lot of discussion on the HATT list.


Macromedia is not offering support contracts on the product.

Buy a support contract here:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/programs/rh_silver.html

T.W. misspoke. "Support contracts" are still available. "Maintenance contracts" were discontinued. The key difference is that maintenance contracts promised future releases of the product. Support contracts do not.


Are
Macromedia still selling the product?

Buy RoboHelp here:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/robohelp/

Macromedia is still selling the product. They have repeatedly stated an ongoing commitment to "sell and support" RoboHelp. When challenged on multiple occasions and in multiple forums, they have repeatedly declined to state an ongoing commitment to "sell, support, and develop" the product.


I've never been much of a RoboHelp fan, on the contrary, but it appears that rumours of its demise are greatly exaggerated.

Everyone is free to read the tea leaves however they wish. However, to me and many of my colleagues, it's clear that RoboHelp is, for all intents and purposes, dead. Prudent organizations will plan accordingly.


--
David Knopf ~ Knopf Online ~ www.knopf.com

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Follow-Ups:

References:
Re: Is RoboHelp still a viable way to go for help?: From: T.W. Smith
Re: Is RoboHelp still a viable way to go for help?: From: John Cornellier

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