Re: Framemaker Eval version?

["Brierley, Sean" <Brierley -at- QUODATA -dot- COM>]

What do y'all think about trial versions of complex software like
FrameMaker?

My feeling is that such versions are more counterproductive than they help.
Why? I see two principal markets for this: existing users looking to try the
upgrade before buying and first-time users looking for a reason to buy.

The first-time user is going to blunder through a crippled (for example,
apparently, disabling Save prevents index creation which prevents the
testing of hypertext and PDF index output, as well as WebWorks Publisher's
ability to take the book to online help . . . etc.) product, without the
benefit of a book, support, and training. The interface of the software is
new and strange, the features are not known . . . all in all, a recipe for
disaster. I must believe that the majority of newbies are turned off by
trial versions of complex software.

The I-wanna-upgrade user would fare better with a trial version of complex
software, but do these folks really need to use the trial software. For
example, I cannot let my productivity suffer while checking out a de-tuned
trial version of the next release, especially one without save capabilities
or that has other, important features disabled. Instead, I, and I suspect
many, look to lists, newsgroups, and user groups, like this one, for
feedback on how worthwhile an upgrade is. I must believe that existing users
looking to upgrade do not take advantage of trial versions of complex
software.

What do you think?

Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com

>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Tristan Bishop [mailto:claritydocs -at- EARTHLINK -dot- NET]
>>>Sent: Friday, August 13, 1999 2:46 PM
>>>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>>>Subject: Framemaker Eval version?
>>>
>>>
>>>This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>>>
>>>------=_NextPart_000_00B6_01BEE581.6BF1C060
>>>Content-Type: text/plain;
>>>        charset="iso-8859-1"
>>>Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
>>>
>>>Hi, my name is Tristan.  I'm a communications vendor. =20
>>>
>>>A company I'm doing docs for for is interested in going to
>>>FrameMaker =
>>>5.5.6. They asked me to check it out, to see if it will meet their =
>>>print/online needs.  Does anyone know if/where/how to get a Beta or =
>>>Trial version?  Adobe doesn't appear to offer one on their
>>>site, but I'm =
>>>hoping it's available and I'm not finding it.
>>>

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=